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MORNING 



OF THE 



REFORMATION. 



BY ENOCH POND, 



PROFESSOR IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 
BANGOR, 







WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, AND 
REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 



/ 



AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

PHILADELPHIA : 
No. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 






# 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, 
by Herman Cope, Treasurer, in trust for the American Sun- 
day-school Union, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court 
of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



L. JOHNSON, STEREOTTPER, 
PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE. 



The Protestant Reformation was one 
of those great and surprising events which 
attract the notice of succeeding genera- 
tions, and mark the periods in which they 
occur as epochs in the history of the world. 
In many particulars, this event resembled 
the first triumph of Christianity; and 
among all the revolutions which the earth 
has witnessed, was second only to that in 
point of interest and importance. It sun- 
dered the chains of debasing ignorance 
and inveterate superstition. It broke the 
yoke of the most grinding moral and spi- 
ritual oppression. It unlocked the long- 
sealed fountains of knowledge, and gave 
the Bible to the nations. In the course 
of a few years, it enlightened and eman- 
cipated half Europe. Nor was its influ- 
ence confined to the period when it oc- 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

curred. Its blessed results have rolled 
down the tide of time, in a constantly 
widening and increasing current, from 
generation to generation, and they will 
continue thus to roll, till time shall be no 
more. 

In all true history the hand of God is 
more or less visible ; but never have his 
power and grace been more strikingly 
displayed than in the series of events 
connected with the Protestant Reformation. 
By a succession of remarkable, though 
often mysterious, providences, he prepared 
the way for the purification of his church. 
It was his providence and grace which 
raised up and qualified the individuals by 
whom this work was chiefly conducted ; 
which protected and sustained them in 
the midst of trials and dangers ; and which 
brought, at length, the mighty enterprise 
in which they were engaged to a success- 
ful issue. At every stage in the progress 
of the work, we find these individuals 
humbly looking to God for direction ; and 



PREFACE. d 

in every season of encouragement and 
deliverance, they devoutly ascribed to him 
the glory. Let those who come after 
them, and who read the story and reap 
the fruits of their toils and perils, do the 
same. 

The object of the writer in the follow- 
ing history (as the intelligent reader must 
perceive) has not been so much to be pro- 
found or original, as to be instructive and 
entertaining. As he writes more espe- 
cially for the benefit of the young, he has 
endeavoured to give to the narrative some- 
what of a scenic character, and to embody 
as much of stirring incident as was con- 
sistent with the necessary brevity of the 
work. 

In preparing these pages, the author 
has had access to nearly all the histories 
of the Reformation, both Romish and 
Protestant. He has been chiefly indebted, 
however, to the new history of President 
D'Aubigne, whose course of narrative 
he has more generally followed, and 
1* 



6 PREFACE. 

whose language he has^ in some mstances, 
adopted. 

He now commits the work to the be- 
loved youth of our land, in the hope and 
prayer that it may tend to open their eyes 
to the errors, the evils and dangers of 
that system of darkness with which the 
Romish church has covered so large a 
portion of this world, and may deeply 
impress them with a sense of obligation to 
those often traduced but ever memorable 
reformers, who braved for us the terrors 
of ecclesiastical tyranny and persecution, 
and at the expense of whose toils, sacri- 
fices and blood, we have received the 
Bible, and nearly all those blessings, 
whether civil or religious, which we now 
enjoy. Next to the apostles and evange- 
lists of the primitive church, ihe Reformers 
of the sixteenth century should be remem- 
bered with gratitude and honour by Chris- 
tians in all coming time. 

Theological Seminary, 
Bangor, 1842. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Events introductory and preparatory to the Reforma- 
tion — Labours of Wicklifle and his followers — Re- 
moval of the seat of the popedom from Rome to 
Avignon — Schism of the ¥/est— Gradual revival of 
learning from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries 
—Art of printing — Labours of learned men not con- 
nected with the Reformers — Forms of government 
in Germany and Switzerland — Death of the Emperor 
Maximilian— Frederic the Wise, Elector of Saxony 
— Engrossing occupations of Charles V.— Dreadful 
corruptions in the church of Rome— Fruitless attempts 
at reformation — No hope remaining but in the power 
of God Page 13 

CHAPTER IL 

Reformation in Germany — Parents of Luther — His birth 
and early education- — At school at Magdeburg and at 
Eisenach — His extreme poverty and distress — Sent 
to the university at Erfurth — Academical honours — 
Luther awakened and distressed — Enters a convent — 
Menial employments — Studies in the convent — Great 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

mental anguish — Is converted through the instru- 
mentality of Staupitz — Ordained priest — Appointed 
to a professorship at Wittemberg 43 

CHAPTER III. 

Luther's labours and studies at Wittemberg — Popularity 
as a lecturer and preacher — Goes on an embassy to 
Rome — Shocked with what he saw there — Becomes a 
doctor of divinity and teacher of the Bible — Attacks 
the schoolmen and the prevailing superstitions — Visits 
the Augustine convents — Exposed to the plague — 
Oppressed with labour — His theses on depravity, 
free-will and grace — History of indulgences — Tetzel's 
manner of selling them — His preaching on the sub- 
ject — Tetzel outwitted — Minds of people divided and 
distressed 70 

CHAPTER IV. 
Luther refuses absolution on the ground of indulgences 
— Tetzel's anger — Luther preaches on the subject — 
Publishes his theses on indulgences — The elector's 
dream — Rapid circulation of the theses — Effects on 
different minds — Attacked by Tetzel and the Domi- 
nicans — Tetzel's antitheses burned at Wittemberg — 
Controversy with Prierias — With Hochstraten — With 
Dr. Eck — Luther's labours as preacher and teacher — 
His journey to Heidelberg — His dispute there on law 
and grace — Martin Bucer converted-^Luther returns 
to Wittemberg 101 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTER V. 

Luther's explanations on the subject of indulgences — - 
His letter to Pope Leo X. — Luther summoned to 
Rome — The pope consents that he shall be tried be- 
fore Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg — Is secretly con- 
demned at Rome, before the time for his trial — Luther 
sets out on foot for Augsburg — Arrives there — Inter- 
view with Serra Longa — Receives a safe-conduct from 
the emperor — First interview with Cajetan — Second 
interview — Third interview — Luther celebrates the 
Lord's supper with his friends — Appeals to the pope 
when better informed — Leaves Augsburg — Returns to 
Wittemberg 129 

CHAPTER VL 

Cajetan angry at Luther's departure — Luther on the point 
of being ordered away from "Wittemberg — A new bull 
in favour of indulgences — Luther appeals to a general 
council — Cajetan blamed at Rome— Miltitz sent to ne- 
gotiate with Luther — Miltitz enraged against Tetzel— 
Luther's first interview with Miltitz — Second interview, 
when a truce is agreed upon — Tetzel's disgrace and 
death — Luther's great popularity as a teacher — His 
works pubHshed at Basle — Miltitz embarrassed — The 
truce broken by Dr. Eck — Dispute at Leipzic between 
Eck and Carlstadt — Luther takes part in it — Import- 
ant results of the dispute — Melancthon's history — Ef- 
fect of the dispute on his mind — Luther's commentary 
on the Galatians 164 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Charles V. chosen Emperor of Germany — Luther writes 
to him — Luther's works condemned by the universities 
of Cologne and Louvain — Luther on good works — 
His appeal to the German nation — Discourse on the 
mass — On the " Babylonian Captivity of the Church'* 
— Melancthon's marriage^ — Eck goes to Rome and 
procures a bull of excommunication against Luther — 
Miltitz still anxious to effect a reconciliation — Per- 
suades Luther to write to the pope — His letter" and 
tract on Christian liberty — The excommunication dis- 
regarded in Germany — Luther's reply to the bull — 
He renews his appeal to a general council — He burns 
the pope's bull, with the decretals, the canon law, 
&c 196 

CHAPTER Vin. 
Melancthon's Discourse to the States of the Empire — 
Luther's " retractations" — The elector refuses to give 
up Luther — Erasmus's opinion of Luther — Luther's 
advice to the penitents — Proves that the papacy is 
Antichrist — Increasing popularity of the reformers at 
Wittemberg — Staupitz alarmed, and begins to draw 
back — Luther's letters — Diet at Worms, in 1521 — A 
new bull of excommunication against Luther — Money 
sent from Rome to the diet — Aleander, the pope's 
legate, seeks to effect the destruction of Luther in his 
absence — The Catholic members of the diet demand 
a redress of grievances — A list of grievances present- 



CONTENTS. 11 

ed — Aleander tries to prevent the appearance of Lu- 
ther at the diet — The feelings of Luther at this 
time 228 

CHAPTER IX 

Luther summoned to appear at Worms — Bugenhagen at 
Wittemberg — Luther leaves Wittemberg — Arrives at 
Weimar — At Erfurth — Meets Justus Jonas— Ar- 
rives at Frankfort — Papists try in vain to stop him — 
His entry into Worms — His desertion and prayer — 
His first appearance before the diet — His second ap- 
pearance — His answers and appeal — Persists in the 
answer that he had given — The emperor's indiscreet 
decision — The diet divided — Great pains taken to 
bring Luther to retract, but in vain — He is ordered 
to leave Worms — His departure 260 

CHAPTER X. 

Luther pursues his journey towards Wittemberg — 
Writes to the emperor — Visits his relatives at Mora 
— Is captured and confined in the castle of Wart- 
burg — His condemnation at Worms — The edict dis- 
regarded in Germany — Reasons for this — Great ex- 
citement on account of Luther's supposed imprison- 
ment or death — Luther's despondency in the castle — 
Is allowed more liberty — His studies and labours — 
His publications — He humbles the Archbishop of 
Mentz — He commences translating the Scriptures — 
His conflicts with the adversary — His writings cen- 
sured by the University of Paris—Melancthon replies 



12 CONTENTS. 

to the Doctors of the Sorhonne — Outward progress 
of the Reformation — Priests begin to enter tbe mar- 
riage state — The mass gives place to the Lord's sup- 
per — The monks quit their cloisters and return to 
society — The fanatical prophets — Melancthon and 
Luther declare against them — Carlstadt is taken with 
them — Luther's presence needed at Wittemberg — He 
leaves his castle, and returns ^ 295 



MORNING 



OF 



THE HEFOMATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

Events introductory and preparatory to the Reforma- 
tion — Labours of Wickliffe and his followers — Re- 
moval of the seat of the popedom from Rome to 
Avignon — Schism of the West — Gradual revival of 
learning from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries 
— Art of printing — Labours of learned men not con- 
nected v^rith the Reformers — Forms of government 
in Germany and Switzerland — Death of the Emperor 
Maximilian — Frederic the Wise, Elector of Saxony 
—Engrossing occupations of Charles V. — Dreadful 
corruptions in the church of Rome — Fruitless attempts 
at reformation — No hope remaining but in the power 
of God. 

Before entering directly on a history of the 
Reformation, it may be proper to notice some 
of those providential occurrences which went 
2 13 



14 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

before it and prepared the way for it ; which 
rendered the world so eminently ripe for re- 
formation, and so ready to aid in promoting 
its triumphs. 

The first of these preparatory dispensations to 
^hich I shall direct attention, was the preach- 
ing and labours of WicklifFe^ and his followers. 
John WicklifFe died ninety-nine years before 
Luther was born. Although it was his lot to 
live in an age of thick darkness, and to labour 
under circumstances of peculiar disadvantage, 
yet so vigorously and perseveringly did he pur- 
sue his labours, and so wisely did he plan for 
their perpetuity and increase, that the precious 
fruits of them remained and continued to diffuse 
themselves, down to the times of which we 
speak. In England, though great numbers of 
his followers were burned at the stake, others 
were raised up to take their places ; and though 
his books were studiously sought out and de- 
stroyed, yet copies of them continued to be 
multiplied, and were read with the deepest in- 
terest. His Bible was concealed and studied 
by numbers in England, notwithstanding the 

* A life of this eminent servant of God has been 
lately published by the American Sunday-School Union. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 15 

threats of popish inquisitors, and was received 
by the famishing of that terrible period as the 
bread and the water of life. The writings of 
Wickiiffe removed the darkness from the minds 
of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, and 
kindled up a light in Bohemia which all the 
floods of error were not able to quench. In 
a word, althougli it was not the privilege of 
such men as Wickiiffe and Huss to see the 
tyranny of the Romish church overthrown, 
and the whole face of society changed under 
the influence of the gospel, yet it devolved on 
them to infuse the leaven which ultimately per- 
vaded and moved the entire mass. The light 
which they kindled was never extinguished ; 
we trust in God it never will be. It continued 
to burn and shine through more than a hundred 
years of prevailing darkness and ignorance, till 
at length it was merged in the brighter beams 
of the Protestant Reformation. 

There were circumstances connected with 
the papacy, occurring as far back as the age of 
Wicklifle, which tended eminently to prepare 
the way for the reformation of which we speak. 
One of these was the removal of the seat of the 
popedom from Rome to Avignon, where it re- 



16 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

mained about seventy years. In consequence 
of this removal, the revenue of the pontiffs 
was materially diminished, and their enemies 
in Italy became more bold and insolent. They 
invaded and laid waste the territories of the 
church and assailed the pontifical authority in 
their publications. A number of cities revolted 
from the pope. Rome itself became the fomenter 
of cabals and civil wars ; and the laws and de- 
crees sent thither from France were often treated 
with contempt. In this latter respect the ex- 
ample of Italy was followed by other countries 
of Europe, Numerous instances might be 
adduced to show, that people generally attri- 
buted far less power to the fulminations and 
decrees which issued from France, than to 
those which used to proceed from Rome. Se- 
ditions were excited in different places against 
the pontiffs, which they were but poorly able 
to put down and subdue. 

Scarcely had what the Romanists call their 
"Babylonish captivity" terminated, and the 
throne of the pontiffs been restored to Italy, 
when another event occurred of most disastrous 
influence upon their pretensions and claims. I 
refer now to what has been called '' the great 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 17 

schism of the West." During the next fifty 
years the church had two or three heads at 
once, and the rival popes assailed each other 
with excommunications, maledictions and all 
sorts of hostile measures. By this means the 
nerves of the pontifical power were cut, and 
could not afterwards be restored. Kings and 
princes who before had been, in some sense, 
the servants of the pontiffs, now became their 
j udges and masters. Moreover, great numbers, 
despising and disregarding those who could 
thus quarrel and fight for empire, committed 
their salvation into the hands of God, acknow- 
ledging that religion might subsist and the 
church be safe without any visible earthly 
head. 

The disrespect for the pontiffs, which had 
been thus excited, was rather increased than 
diminished by the proceedings of the councils 
of Constance and Basil. By their bold exer- 
cise of authority, in resisting, deposing and 
electing popes, these great councils impressed 
upon the nations of Europe that there was a 
jurisdiction in the church superior even to the 
power of the pope, which they had before 
been taught to regard as supreme. 
2* 



18 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

The revival of learning throughout Europe 
was an event exceedingly favourable to the 
Eeformation. This revival had commenced 
as early as the eleventh century, but for a long 
period its progress was slow and almost im- 
perceptible. It was greatly accelerated, near 
the middle of the fifteenth century, in conse- 
quence of the capture of Constantinople by the 
Turks ; an event which, however disastrous 
to the interests of learning in the East, was 
the occasion of imparting new life and vigour 
to these interests in the West. Great numbers 
of learned Greeks, with their books and arts, 
were compelled to take refuge in Italy, and in 
other parts of Europe, where they gathered 
pupils, opened schools, and promoted the study 
of the classical authors of antiquity. Under 
such an influence, the mind of Europe began 
speedily to be enlightened and liberalized. 
Mankind awoke from the lethargy in which 
they had been sunk for so many centuries, and 
assumed the power of thinking and acting for 
themselves ; and no sooner was this power 
assumed, than it began to be exercised with 
extraordinary boldness. Men were not afraid 
now of entering an untrodden path, or of em- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 19 

bracing' a new opinion. The novelty of a doc- 
trine seems to have been a recomnnendation of 
it, and, instead of being startled when the dar- 
ing hand of Luther tore aside the veil which 
covered long established errors, the genius of 
the age applauded and aided the attempt. 

It was a circumstance highly favourable to 
the reformers, that they were, in general, 
learned men, and appeared before the public 
as the advocates, not only of a pure religion, 
but of sound learning : whereas the ignorant 
monks not only opposed the spread of Luther's 
doctrines, but set themselves with equal fierce- 
ness against the introduction of learning into 
Germany. With them, it was a sufficient ob- 
jection to the works of Erasmus, that they were 
written in so good Latin. It was in this way 
that the cause of learning and the cause of the 
Reformation came to be regarded, for a time, as 
almost identical. They had, in general, the 
same friends and the same enemies. This en- 
abled the reformers to carry on the contest with 
great advantage. Erudition, industry, accuracy 
of sentiment, purity of composition, even wit 
and raillery were almost wholly on their side ; 
and they triumphed easily over illiterate monks, 



20 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

whose rude arguments and ruder style were 
found insufficient for the defence of a system 
which all the learning and Jesuitry of its later 
advocates have not been able to support, or so 
much as to palliate. 

Another circumstance which greatly pro- 
moted the Reformation, was the then recent 
invention of the art of printing. By means of 
this art, the facility of acquiring and propagat- 
ing knowledge was wonderfully increased, and 
the books of the reformers, which must other- 
wise have made their way slowly and with un- 
certainty into distant countries, spread at once 
all over Europe. Nor were they read only by 
the rich and the learned, w^ho alone had access 
to books before printing was discovered. They 
were adapted to the capacities and came into 
the hands of the common people, who, upon 
this appeal to their individual judgment, were 
led to examine and to reject many doctrines 
which formerly they had been required to be- 
lieve. 

In consequence of the revival of learning, 
many learned men were raised up, some before 
and some contemporary with the reformers, 
who, without joining them or holding any 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 21 

formal connexion with them, still helped for- 
ward the work in which they were engaged. 
Such were Dante and Petrarch in the four- 
teenth century, the former of whom places 
several of the popes in the depths of hell, and 
represents the church as utterly corrupt and 
sunk under the weight of her pollutions.-'^' In 
one of his sonnets, Petrarch assimilates the 
papal court to Babylon, and declares that he 
has quitted it forever, as a place equally de- 
prived of virtue and of shame, the residence 
of misery and the mother of error. In an- 
other, he fairly exhausts, on this subject, every 
epithet of reproach and abhorrence of which 
his native language was capable. Of the same 
general character and influence were the writ- 
ings of the celebrated Boccacio. It was the 
principal object of his Decameron (the most 
popular and entertaining of all his works) to 
expose the debaucheries of the religious orders, 
and to bring them into utter contempt. This 
v/ork was translated into various languages, 
and circulated all over Europe. 

Of like character with this were the Face- 
tiae of Poggio, upwards of ten editions of which 

* Inferno, cant. xi. and xix. 



22 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

were issued in the last thirty years of the fif- 
teenth century. This work was published, not 
only in Italy, but at Antwerp and Leipsic ; an 
evident proof of its great and almost universal 
celebrity. 

As we draw nearer to the times of the Re- 
formation, we find men of learning were mul- 
tiplied in different parts of Europe, and God 
was employing them, in various ways, prepa- 
ratory to the deliverance of his church. It 
devolved on Reuchlin, the most learned man 
of his age, to revive in Germany the study of 
the Scriptures in their original tongues. 

At the very beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, he revised the Vulgate, and gave to the 
world the first Hebrew and German Grammar 
and Dictionary that had ever been published. 
By this labour he took off* the seals from the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament, and made it 
easy for Luther to open and translate these 
sacred books for the good of his countrymen. 
Reuchlin was the uncle, the patron and tutor 
of the celebrated Melancthon, by whom the 
latter was trained up to be a principal promoter, 
as well as ornament of the Reformation. 

Ulric de Hutten, an orator and knight, was 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 23 

not improperly called the Demosthenes of 
Germany, on account of his philippics against 
the papacy. Among his various writings was 
one which he entitled The Romish Trinity ; 
in which he strips bare the disorders of the 
papal court, and urges the necessity of putting 
a forcible stop to its oppressions. " There are 
three things," says he, in this tract, " which we 
commonly bring away with us from Rome ; a 
bad conscience, a vitiated stomach and an empty 
purse. There are three things which Rome has 
no faith in ; the immortality of the soul, the re- 
surrection of the dead and hell. There are three 
things which Rome chiefly trades in ; the grace 
of Christ, the dignities of the church and 
wom.en." Hutten, like Reuchlin, was sorely 
persecuted by the monks, and was obliged, in 
the latter part of his life, to take refuge in one 
of the castles of Germany. 

But the most remarkable personage among 
the learned, who, while he cautiously stood 
aloof from the Reformation, was employed, in 
providence, to help it forward, was Erasmus 
of Rotterdam. Being destined for the priest- 
hood, though he never entered it, and trained 
up in the knowledge of ecclesiastical literature, 



24 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

he applied himself more to theological inqui- 
ries than any of the revivers of learning in 
that age. Though engaged, after a time, in 
open controversy with the reformers, he was 
nevertheless useful to the Reformation in various 
ways. By his example and influence, he con- 
tributed to diffuse a love of learning and a 
spirit of liberal inquiry and discussion. He 
unveiled the errors and corruptions of the 
church, and assailed them with the most pun- 
gent satire. But more especially he laboured 
to recall the public mind from scholastic quib- 
bles, and to direct it to the study of the Holy 
Scriptures. " I am firmly resolved," said he, 
" to die in the study of the Scriptures. In 
that is my joy and peace." 

It was in the year 1616, that he published 
his New Testament in Greek; the first, and 
for a long time the only, critical edition extant. 
This he accompanied with a Latin translation, 
in which he boldly corrected the Vulgate and 
gave a reason for his corrections. It was in 
vain that the monks clamoured against this 
most important work, charging Erasmus with 
undertaking to correct the Holy Ghost. He 
knew the ground on which he stood, and was 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 25 

well able to refute their clamours, if not to si- 
lence them. Erasmus did for the New Testa- 
ment what Reuchlin before had done for the Old. 
These men gave the Scriptures to the learned 
of Europe, but Luther gave them to the com- 
mon people. 

Among the arrangements of Providence 
calculated to favour the Reformation may be 
reckoned, also, the particular ybrm^ of gov em- 
raent at that time established in the countries 
where it commenced. The German empire 
was a confederacy of different States, with the 
emperor as its head. Each of these States 
possessed the sovereignty over its own terri- 
tories. The Imperial Diet or Congress was 
composed of the princes of the sovereign States, 
and exercised the legislative power for the 
whole of the Germanic body. The emperor 
ratified the laws, decrees, or resohitions of this 
assembly. It was his office, also, to publish 
and execute them. The emperor was chosen 
for life ; and it devolved on seven of the more 
powerful princes, under the title of electors, to 
award the imperial crown. This particular 
form of constitution, which, by the ordering 
of Providence, the empire had received, was 
3 



26 MORNING or THE REFORMATION. 

manifestly favourable to the promulgation of 
new doctrines. If Germany had been a mon- 
archy, strictly so called, like France or England, 
the arbitrary will of the sovereign might have 
delayed, if not frustrated, the progress of the 
gospel. But, as we have seen, it was a con- 
federacy. The truth, opposed in one State, 
might be received favourably in another. Im- 
portant centres of light, which might gradually 
penetrate the darkness and enlighten the sur- 
rounding population, might quickly be formed 
in different districts of the empire. 

The same remark may be made in respect 
to Switzerland, -where the Reformation com- 
menced about at the same time as in Germany. 
It was so ordered in providence that Switzer- 
land also should be a confederacy ^ and not a 
simple monarchy. Each of the cantons was 
an independent republic, all of which were con- 
federated together, and governed by a general 
diet or congress. 

The arrangements of Providence in regard to 
some of the reigning powers in Germany were 
also in the highest degree favourable to the Re- 
formation. But for the death of the Emperor 
Maximilian, almost at the commencement of the 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 27 

Reformation, it is hard to see how the life of 
Luther could have been preserved. This mo- 
narch was deeply interested, from considera- 
tions of policy as well as of principle, to con- 
ciliate the pontiff, and urged him, by letter, to 
take vigorous measures in opposition to Luther. 
'* We will be careful," said he, "to enforce 
throughout our empire w^hatever your holiness 
shall decree on this subject." The life of the 
reformer was completely in the emperor's 
liands ; he had the opportunity, the power and 
the disposition to destroy it ; and without a 
miracle we see not how it could have been pre- 
served. But before any measures could be 
matured, the emperor himself was removed by 
death. 

The raising up of such a man as Frederic 
the Wise, the renowned Elector of Saxony, 
to be the sovereign and protector of Luther, is 
another interposition of Providence that must 
not be overlooked. During the period inter- 
vening between the death of Maximilian and the 
elevation of Charles V. to the throne of the 
empire, Frederic was sole monarch in his own 
dominions. And after the election of Charles, 
he was under so great obligations to Frederic 



28 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

for the influence which he had exerted in his 
favour, that he was very unwilling to displease 
him.* Yet " Frederic," to use the language 
of another, " was precisely the prince that was 
needed for the cradle of the Reformation. Too 
much weakness on the part of those friendly to 
the work might have allowed it to be crushed. 
Too much haste would have caused a prema- 
ture explosion of the storm that was gathering 
against it." Frederic was cautious and mode- 
rate, but firm. He possessed in large measure 
that grace which, of all others, is most neces- 
sary in difficult times — he waited upon God. 
He put in practice the wise counsel of Gama- 
liel, *' If tliis work be of man, it will come to 
naught ; but if it be of God, we cannot over- 
throw it." " Things," said he, " are come 
to such a pass, that men can do no more. God 
alone can effect any thing. We must, there- 
fore, leave to his power those great events 
which are too hard for us." We may well 
admire the wisdom of Providence in the choice 



* Frederic had the offer of the imperial crown, but 
he declined it, and recommended to his brother electors 
to unite with him in the elevation of Charles. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 29 

of such a prince, to guard the beginnings of the 
Reformation. 

Another thing to be admired, and which we 
shall have frequent occasion to notice as we 
proceed with this history, is the manner in 
which divine Providence kept the thoughts and 
the hands of the Emperor Charles occupied, 
so that he had no time or opportunity to exert 
liis power in crushing the infant Reformation. 
Governing, as he did, not only Germany, but 
Spain, Sicily, Naples, the Netherlands, and 
Austria, with the Turks on one side of him, 
and his great rival, Francis I., on another, and 
the aspiring, intriguing court of Rome on 
another, he was so continually and intensely 
busied with wars, reprisals, negotiations, and 
other affairs of state, that he could give little 
attention to what he considered as a mere ec- 
clesiastical, theological controversy ; and thus 
the Reformation was permitted to take root, and 
spring up, and extend itself on every side, till 
it was able to put him at defiance. When, at 
length, he set himself to overthrow it, it could 
not be subverted or overthrown. 

In view of the remarks which have been 
madcj we see the providence of God exerting 



30 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

itself in various ways preparatory to the re- 
formation of his church. But that which 
tended more than every thing else to prepare 
for the coming Reformation, was the internal 
corruptions of the church itself. The lan- 
guage of Jeremiah was truly applicable to the 
Romish church at this period: *'Her own 
wickedness corrected her, and her backslidings 
reproved her." Having long persisted in de- 
spising the reproofs and slighting the solemn 
warnings of Heaven, she was permitted to run 
down from one degree of corruption to an- 
other, till the earth itself could no longer endure 
her, and was prepared to welcome any thing 
that promised a reformation. Who can con- 
template without horror the character of the 
popes, at the commencement of the sixteenth 
century ? Rodrigo Borgia — after having lived 
in illicit intercourse, first with a Roman lady, 
and afterwards with her daughter, by whom he 
had several children — obtained the pontificate 
by bribery, in 1492. He took the name of 
Alexander VI., and has been called, not im- 
properly, the Nero of the pontiffs. The very- 
day of his coronation he created his son, Cae- 
sar Borgia, a ferocious and dissolute youth, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 31 

Archbishop of Valencia, and Bishop of Pam- 
peluna. He next proceeded to celebrate the 
nuptials of his daughter Lucretia, by festivities 
of the most indecent character. During the 
remainder of his life, and that of his diabolical 
son, the city of Rome, and even the Vatican, 
were filled with debauchery, rapine and wick- 
edness. Nightly assassinations were of con- 
tinual occurrence. Poison often destroyed 
those whom the dagger could not reach. Every 
one feared to move or breathe, lest he should 
be the next victim. Caesar Borgia was the 
hero of crime. The spot on earth where all 
iniquity met and overflowed was the pontiff's 
seat. When man gives himself over to the 
power of evil, the higher his pretensions be- 
fore God, the lower he sinks in the depths of 
hell. The dissolute entertainments given by 
the pope, and his son Caesar, and his daughter 
Lucretia, are such as can neither be described 
nor thought of. The most impure groves of 
ancient worship were nothing to them. In 
order to rid himself of a wealthy cardinal, that 
he might seize his possessions, the pope had 
prepared poison in a box of sweetmeats, which 
was to be placed on the table, after a sumptuous 



32 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

feast. The cardinal, receiving a hint of the 
design, removed the poisoned box and placed 
it before Alexander. He ate of it and perished. 
His body, all swelled, black and shockingly 
disfigured, was carried to St. Peter's, to be there 
interred, the people crowding about it with 
joy, and congratulating one another that they 
were at length delivered from the terror of such 
a viper. 

The same year (1503) in which Pope Alex- 
ander died, Julius H. was advanced to the 
pontilical throne. His character differed from 
that of his predecessor,* but was scarcely less 
detestable, on the whole. He has not unfre- 
quently been denominated " the mad warrior." 
He made it his w^hole object, from the time 
of his promotion to the hour of his death, to 
extend the temporal dominions of the church 
by force of arms and the blood of Christians ; 
thus acting, to use an expression of Mezeray, 
more like a sultan of the Turks, than as the 
vicar of the Prince of peace and the pretended 
father of all believers. Two hundred thou« 

* Alexander was not the immediate predecessor of 
Julius. The pontificate of Pius III. intervened; but 
this lasted only tvYenty-six days. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 33 

sand persons are said to have perished in the 
wars, carried on at the instigation of this fu- 
rious and blood-thirsty pope ; and as many 
more would probably have undergone the same 
fate, had not death intervened, and prevented 
his disturbing the repose of Europe any longer. 
By all the contemporary writers Julius is 
charged, not only with mad ambition, but with 
immoderate drinking, which is supposed to 
have hastened his end. He would not abstain 
from wine, even when burning under the 
severity of a fever. 

When such examples were exhibited in the 
pontifical palace, and by those who were 
acknowledged as heads of the church, the 
character of the clergy may be easily conjec- 
tured. With some honourable exceptions, it 
was disgraceful in the extreme. In the first 
place, the great body of the clergy were de- 
plorably ignorant. Why should they not be ? 
What need had they of sacred learning ? It was 
no longer their otHce to explain the Scriptures, 
but to perform rites and grant letters of indul- 
gence ; and for the fulfilling of such a minis- 
try no great attainments in learning were ne- 
cessary. The monks affirmed that all heresy 



34 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

arose from the study of tlie Greek and Hebrew 
languages, especially the former. •' The New 
Testament," said one of them, "is full of ser- 
pents and thorns. Greek is a modern lan- 
guage but recently invented, and against it 
we must be on our guard. As to Hebrew, it 
is certain that whoever studies that immedi- 
ately becomes a Jew.'* Even the school of 
theology in Paris did not scruple to declare 
before parliament, "' There is an end of reli- 
gion, if the study of Hebrew and Greek is 
permitted." And what of learning there was 
among the clergy, was not, in general, sacred 
learning. The Ciceronians, as they were 
called in Italy, affected a great contempt for 
the Bible, on account of its style ; and under- 
took to change its style into that of Virgil and 
Horace. Thus Cardinal Bembo used to call 
the Father Jupiter, and the Holy Spirit the 
celestial zephyr. Remission of sins was the 
pity of the Manes ; and Christ the Son of 
God was Minerva sprung from the brorvs 
of Jupiter, 

But the clergy generally were chargeable 
with something worse than ignorance. They 
were rapacious, warlike, corrupt, debauched. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 35 

Dignitaries of the church, following the exam- 
ple of the popes, preferred the tumult of camps 
to the service of the altar. To be able, lance 
ia hand, to compel his neighbours to do him 
homage, was one of the most conspicuous 
qualifications for a bishop. Baldwin, Arch- 
bishop of Treves, was constantly at war with 
his neighbours, rasing their castles, erecting 
fortresses of his own, and thinking only how 
to enlarge his territories. Everywhere the 
bishops were in frequent war with the towns, 
the citizens demanding and struggling for free- 
dom, and their spiritual masters requiring im- 
plicit obedience. 

The wealth of the clergy was, at this period, 
enormous, and their immunities great. In 
Germany it was computed that the ecclesiastics 
had got into their hands more than half of the 
national property. In other countries the pro- 
portion varied ; but the share belonging to the 
church was everywhere prodigious. These 
vast possessions were not subject to the burdens 
imposed upon the lands of the laity. The 
German clergy were exempted by law from all 
taxes ; and if, on any occasion, the bishops 
were pleased to grant some aid towards supply- 



36 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ing the public exigencies, this was considered 
as a free gift, flowing from their own gene- 
rosity, which the civil magistrate had no right 
to exact. In consequence of this strange state 
of things, the laity in Germany had the mor- 
tification to find themselves loaded with ex- 
cessive burdens, while such as possessed the 
greatest share of the property were free from 
all obligation to support or defend the state. 

What added to this mortification was, that 
the higher German ecclesiastics were, in most 
instances, foreigners. They were not native 
subjects, who might be expected to sympathize 
with the princes and people, but lazy, volup- 
tuous Italians, who frequently could not speak 
the language of the country ; the mere creatures 
of the pope, whom, in consequence of his 
usurped right of conferring benefices, he had 
forced upon the people against their will. The 
practice of selling benefices was, at this period, 
so notorious, that no pains were taken to con- 
ceal or disguise it. Companies of merchants, 
in some instances, openly purchased the bene- 
fices of dififerent districts from the pope's 
ministers, and retailed them at an advanced 
price. Transactions so grossly simoniacal, and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 37 

SO unworthy the ministers of a Christian 
church, were witnessed with deep regret by 
some, and with unavailing murmurs and com- 
plaints by others. 

But the worst of the case has not yet been 
exhibited. The clergy of this period were not 
only rapacious and warlike ; their morals were, 
to the last degree, corrupt. Priests openly 
consorted with abandoned characters ; frequent- 
ed taverns and houses of ill-fame ; picked locks 
and broke open doors ; played cards and dice ; 
and finished their nightly orgies with quarrels 
and blasphemy. The severe and unnatural 
law of celibacy, which was enforced upon all 
the clergy, high and low, gave occasion to such 
irregularities, that in many places the concu- 
binage of priests was not only permitted, but 
preferred and enjoined. The people chose 
that their priest should have a woman in keep- 
ing, that so the females of their own families 
might be the more secure. In some parts of 
Germany, the priest paid to the bishop a regu- 
lar tax for the woman with whom he lived, 
and for every child that was born in his house. 
Erasmus tells us of a certain bishop who re- 
4 



38 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ceived this tax from no less than eleven thou- 
sand priests, in a single year. 

And of whatever crimes the clergy might 
be guilty, they were in no fear or danger of 
punishment. The civil authorities had no 
jurisdiction over them ; and from the eccle- 
siastical authorities immunity could always be 
secured for money. The officers of the Roman 
chancery actually published a book, specifying 
the precise sums to be demanded of ecclesiastics 
for the absolution of crime. For instance, a 
deacon, guilty of murder, was absolved for 
twenty crowns. A bishop or abbot might as- 
sassinate for three hundred livres. A priest 
might violate his vows of chastity, even under 
the most aggravating circumstances, for one 
hundred livres. In this shameful book, such 
crimes as seldom occur in human life, and as 
exist, perhaps, only in the impure imagination 
of a casuist, were taxed at a very moderate 
rate. 

Nor were criminal ecclesiastics the only per- 
sons over whom the shield of the church was 
extended, to secure them from punishment. 
Its temples, like those of the heathen, were 
regarded as a refuge, to which malefactors of 



MORNING OF THE REFORIWATION. 39 

all classes might flee and be safe. Assassins, 
fratricides, poisoners, deserters, incendiaries, 
robbers, criminals of every class, rushed to- 
gether to the sanctuaries, where they were all 
well receivedj and lived in a state of entire 
security. They ate, drank, worked at their 
trades, and kept apen shop in the churches. 
They wore concealed arms under their gar- 
ments, arrested travellers that they might extort 
money for their ransom, and fired at the police 
officers when they chanced to pass by. They 
sallied out frequently to commit fresh robberies 
and assassinations, and returned within the 
sanctuary of the church, that they might enjoy 
without fear that protection which the temple 
and its ministers afforded them. The priests 
and monks were in favour of this system, be- 
cause it supplied them with servants at a cheap 
rate; whilst from wealthy criminals large sums 
of money were received as the price of their 
protection. ' 

I might proceed to much greater lengths in 
describing the corruptions of the church at the 
period of the Reformation, but I forbear. 
Enough, surely, has been said to show, that 
the world might well be weary of existing 



40 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

abominations, and might be expected to look 
with anxious eyes, in all directions, for deliver- 
ance. And such was, in fact, the case. Such 
had been tlie case for a long period. No sub- 
ject was more freely talked of, among princes 
and people, than the need of a reformation — 
a reformation in the church that should be 
thorough and universal — a reformation in both 
its head and its members. 

It, was under the influence of this feeling, 
that various plans had been devised, and various 
expedients resorted to, with a view to the re- 
formation of the church ; but all in vain. Kings 
and princes had repeatedly attempted a reforma- 
tion. This did Henry II. of England, as early 
as the twelfth century ; but the result was, in- 
stead of sundering the heavy chains of eccle- 
siastical imposition, they were riveted down 
upon him with a tenfold power. The brave 
and warlike Henry IV. of Germany undertook 
also to correct abuses, and restrain the mon- 
strous usurpations of the church. But after a 
long and fruitless struggle, he was compelled 
to pass three days and nights in the trenches 
of an Italian fortress, exposed to the winter's 
cold, barefoot, in a scanty woollen garment, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 41 

imploring, with tears and cries, the pity of his 
holiness, before papal inflexibility began to re- 
lax, and the humble supplicant was pardoned. 
The kings of France, in repeated instances, 
exerted all their power with a view to the re- 
formation of the church, but with no better 
success. 

The same object was next attempted by the 
literati of the age. Dante and Petrarch, with 
other poets and satirists of Italy, undertook to 
laugh, to shame the church out of its corrup- 
tions. But although the way was thus pre- 
pared for reformation, it was soon found that 
neither literature nor ridicule would effect the 
object. The great leviathan could not thus 
be tamed. 

Attempts were repeatedly made to reform 
the church by means of councils. This was 
the avowed and leading object of the great 
council of Constance. The church was cor- 
rupt, and must be reformed ; and a body, made 
up of long lists of cardinals, archbishops and 
bishops, with eighteen hundred doctors of di- 
vinity and priests, besides a vast number of 
inferior ecclesiastics, was drawn together to 
reform it. But instead of reforming the church, 
4* 



42 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION^. 

they deformed it the more. They added to 
all its other crimes the burning of John Huss 
and Jerome of Prague, and separated, leaving a 
confessedly polluted church as far from reform- 
ation as ever. 

By efforts at reformation such as these, the 
wisdom of man seems to have exhausted itself; 
and nought now was left to be relied on but 
the power of God, And the day in which God 
was to display his power and glorify his name, 
in the deliverance of his afflicted people, at 
length arrived. By a series of providential 
occurrences, as we have seen, he had long been 
preparing the way, and ripening the world 
(so to speak) for this desired event, and in the 
mode and at the moment of his own appoint- 
ment it was ushered in. The outward means 
were, at the first, feeble and unpromising, but 
the success was sure. The instruments em- 
ployed were weak in themselves, and were 
fully sensible of their own weakness ; but on 
this account it is the more gloriously manifest, 
to all who examine the history of those times, 
that the excellency of the power was indeed 
of God and not of men. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 43 



CHAPTER II. 

Reformation in Germany — Parents of Luther — His birth 
and early education — At school at Magdeburg and at 
Eisenach — His extreme poverty and distress — Sent 
to the university at Erfurth — Academical honours — 
Luther awakened and distressed — Enters a convent — 
Menial employments — Studies in the convent — Great 
mental anguish — Is converted through the instru- 
mentality of Staupitz — Ordained priest — Appointed 
to a professorship at Wittemberg. 

In our last chapter we noticed some of those 
providential occurrences which preceded the 
Reformation from popery, and prepared the 
way for its introduction and triumph. The 
precise month or year when the Reformation 
may be said to have commenced it might not 
be easy to determine. The progress of light 
and truth in the minds of those who were 
chiefly engaged in promoting it was gradual ; 
and the incipient steps were taken by them 
when they can hardly be said to have known 
what they did, or what was likely to be the 
result of their labours. They were led along 
by an unseen hand, and in a way which they 
knew not; and were often as much surprised, 



44 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

in view of the g^round over which they had 
passed, and the mighty effects which had been 
produced, as were the most indifferent of those 
who witnessed their actions. Thus much, 
however, may be said, that the Reformation 
commenced in two different countries, Ger- 
many and Switzerland, and under the direction 
of two different individuals, Martin Luther and 
Ulric Zwingle, at about the same period. As 
Germany was the field in which it spread most 
rapidly and triumphed most gloriously, and 
from which it was diffused through many 
kingdoms, we shall commence with a history 
of the Reformation in Germany; reserving the 
account of its progress in Switzerland, and the 
other countries of Protestant Europe, to a later 
period in our inquiry. 

In describing the Reformation in Germany 
we naturally commence with a history of the 
early life, education, character and labours of 
Martin Luther. The parents of this remarka- 
ble man were John Luther and Margaret Lin- 
demann, peasants of Eisenach, in the county 
of Mansfield, in Thuringia. Soon after their 
marriage John and Margaret left Eisenach, and 
settled in the little town of Eisleben, in Sax- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 45 

ony. The father of the reformer was an up- 
right man, diligent in his business, open- 
hearted, and possessing a strength of purpose 
bordering upon obstinacy. Though living at 
a period when books were scarce and costly, 
he made shift to procure some of them ; and 
these he read with much earnestness and 
dihgence. The study of them constituted his 
recreation in those intervals of rest which his 
severe and assiduous labours allowed to him. 
His wife seems to have possessed all those 
virtues which adorn good and pious women. 
Modesty, the fear of God and a deeply devo- 
tional spirit especially marked her character. 
She was considered by the neighbours among 
whom she dwelt as a model worthy of their 
imitation. 

The son of whom we speak was born on the 
evening of November 10th, 1483. It was St. 
Martin's day, and, in honour of the saint on 
whose day he was born, the babe received the 
name of Martin. Little Martin was not more 
than six months old when his parents removed 
froniEisleben, and settled in the town of Mans- 
field, the mines of which were then much cele- 
brated. 



46 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

The early years of their abode at Mansfield 
were full of difficulty for the worthy John and 
his wife. They lived, at first, in extreme 
poverty. "My parents," said Luther, " were 
very poor. My father was a woodcutter, and 
my mother has often carried the wood on her 
back, that she might earn wherewith to bring 
up her children." Under the training of such 
parents, young Luther was early accustomed 
to toil and hard fare. But the circumstances 
of John, after a time, improved. By his fru- 
gality and industry he was enabled to establish 
two small furnaces for iron ; and on account 
of his excellent character and strong good 
sense he was promoted to be one of the town- 
council of Mansfield. 

Young Martin was early instructed in the 
religion of the times, and when but a mere 
child was placed at school. He tells us that 
his father often carried him in his arms to the 
house of his teacher, and came again to fetch 
him. The use of the rod was more fashiona- 
ble in those days than it is at present, and the 
determined, resolute character of the child ex- 
posed him continually to the infliction of it. 
His parents often punished him severely ; and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 47 

at school his master flogged him fifteen times 
in one day. Referring to this fact, Luther 
says, '' It is right to punish children, but at the 
same time we must love them. My parents 
thought they were doing right, but they had 
not that discernment of character that was 
necessary that they might know when, on 
whom, and ho'w punishment should be in- 
flicted." 

Martin learned something at school. He 
was taught the catechism, the ten command- 
ments, the apostles' creed, the Lord's prayer, 
some hymns and some forms of prayer, a Latin 
grammar composed by Donatus in the fourth 
century; in short, all that was studied in the 
school at Mansfield. But he seems to have 
been under the influence of no religious feel- 
ing except that of fear. He knew Christ only 
as an angry judge, and was ready to turn pale 
with fear whenever the name of Christ was 
spoken. 

The light of science, which was beginning 
everywhere to diffuse itself, reached even the 
cottage of the miner of Mansfield. He con- 
ceived the highest hopes respecting his son, 
and resolved that he should be a scholar. 



48 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Therefore, when Martin v/as fourteen years 
of age, he was separated from the paternal 
roof and sent to the school of the Franciscans 
at Magdeburg. This was a severe appren- 
ticeship to Luther. In a strange city, without 
friends or protectors, he trembled in the pre- 
sence of his severe instructers, and in the in- 
tervals of study was obliged to beg his bread. 
His custom was, with several of his compa- 
nions, to go singing through the streets, and, 
stopping in front of the peasants' houses, to 
receive whatever they were pleased to bestow. 
After about a year Martin was removed from 
Magdeburg, and sent to a celebrated school 
in Eisenach. His parents had some relatives 
there, from whom they hoped that their son 
might receive assistance. But his circum- 
stances were not at all improved by the change. 
His relatives did not trouble themselves about 
him ; or perhaps they were poor, and could 
not assist him. He was obliged here, as at 
Magdeburg, to sing with his school-fellows 
through the streets, and beg his bread. Instead 
of bread, however, he often received nothing 
but harsh words. Often was he overwhelmed 
with sorrow, and shed many tears. It is in- 




LUTHER BEGGXSTGaf EISEl^ACH. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 49 

teresting to contemplate these facts in the early 
life of the reformer, and see by what severity 
of discipline God was preparing him for his 
future career of usefulness. 

On one occasion, having been repulsed from 
three houses, and being about to return fasting 
to his lodgings, he stopped before the door of 
an honest burgher, and gave himself up to the 
most painful reflections. " Must I, for want 
of bread, abandon my favourite studies, return 
to my father's house, and im.mure myself in 
the mines of Mansfield?" As he stood here 
motionless, thinking and weeping, the door of 
the house opened, and the mistress of it invited 
him to enter. She had often seen young Mar- 
tin in the church, and had been affected with 
the sweetness of his singing and his apparent 
devotion. She had seen him repulsed from 
the doors of her neighbours, and witnessed the 
severity with which he had been treated. He 
now stood, apparently overwhelmed with sor- 
row, before her door, and she could keep it shut 
no longer. She invited him to enter, soothed 
him with kind words and supplied his imme- 
diate wants. She did more than this. With 
the approbation of her husband, she in a few 
5 



50 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

days invited him to live in her house, and pro- 
mised to be his patron and protector. Thus 
the God who hears the hungry ravens, looked 
down in pity upon this starving child, and raised 
him up a benefactor, when he least expected 
it. The name of the burgher who thus be- 
friended Luther was Conrad Cotta, and that of 
his wife, Ursula. In after life Luther used to 
speak of her as *' the Christian Shunamite ;" 
and it was with reference to her that he uttered 
the memorable saying, '' There is nothing 
sweeter than the heart of a pious woman.'' 

Young Luther spent two or three years in 
the family of Cotta ; and they were among 
the happiest years of his life. He made rapid 
progress in his studies, and in addition to his 
other pursuits, was able to give some attention 
to the science of music. He learned to play 
on the flute and lute, and often he cheered his 
pensive hours by accompanying his fine alto 
voice with the latter instrument. He also took 
pleasure in this exercise, because it was so 
agreeable to his kind patrons, who, like most 
Germans, were fond of music. Many years 
after, when Luther had become a renowned 
professor at Wittemberg, he received one of 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 51 

Cotta's sons under his roof, and thus repaid, 
in part, to the child, what he had received from 
the father and mother. 

Luther continued at Eisenach until he had 
reached his eighteenth year. It was here that 
he became acquainted with the dead languages, 
and studied rhetoric and poesy. Cheerful, 
obliging and highly social in his disposition, 
he was much beloved by his instructers ; and 
a special favourite with his fellow students. But 
having tasted the sweets of learning, he sighed 
for something more than could be gained at 
Eisenach. He longed for a university edu- 
cation ; and his father, w^ho was full of con- 
fidence in the talents of his son, was equally 
desirous that he should be gratified. It was 
his father's intention that he should study the 
law; in the practice of which he hoped to see 
him filling honourable stations, gaining the 
favour of nobles and princes, and shining on the 
great theatre of the world. It was soon deter- 
mined that Martin should be sent to the universi- 
ty atErfurth, where he arrived in the year 1 501 . 

The studies then held in the highest estima- 
tion at Erfurth were the scholastic philosophy 
and logic ; and agreeably to the wishes of his 



52 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

instructers, the new pupil grappled at once 
with the subtilties of Occam, Duns Scotus, Bo- 
naventura, and Thomas Aquinas. But he could 
not be satisfied with pursuits of this nature. 
His mind, eager for instruction, required better 
food ; and he applied himself to the study of 
Cicero, Virgil, and the best Latin classics. 
But even at this period he was not intent alone 
on the cultivation of his understanding. There 
was within him a "serious thoughtfulness, a 
heart looking upwards, which God gives to 
those whom he designs to make his most zeal- 
ous servants. He fervently invoked the di- 
vine blessing on his labours. He prayed 
every morning ; then went to church ; after- 
wards commenced his studies ; and was care- 
ful not to lose a moment during the day. It 
had become a proverb witli him, when not more 
than eighteen years old: " Bene precasse est 
bene studuisse ; To pray well is the better 
half of study, "^^ 

Young Luther spent much time in the libra- 
ry of the university, hoarding up the treasures 
which were there collected. When he had 
been two years at Erfurth, and was now twenty 
years of age, as he was one day in the library, 



MORNING Or THE REFORMATION. 53 

turning over books and reading the title- 
pages of different authors, he accidentally fell 
upon a Latin Bible. It was a rare book; at 
that time almost unknown. He had never seen 
one before in his life. He was astonished at 
finding more in the Bible than those fragments 
of the gospels and epistles which the church 
had selected to be read to the people. Till 
then, he had supposed that these were the 
whole word of God. But here were so many 
pages, so many chapters, so many books, of 
which he had no idea ! His heart beat high, 
as he held in his hand the whole inspired vo- 
lume. Witb feelings indescribable, he turned 
over the pages of God's holy word. " O," 
thought he, '* if God would but give me such 
a book for my own!" He read and re-read 
it, and went back to the library to read it again. 
For the first time, perhaps, for a century, this 
precious volume had now been removed from 
its shelf; a volume which Luther was soon to 
give to his countrymen in their own language ; 
which was to become the book of life to the 
benighted nations. 

The same year in which Luther found the 
Bible, he took his first academical degree. 



54 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

The excessive labour which he had undergone 
in preparing for it, occasioned a dangerous ill- 
ness. Death stared him in the face. It seem- 
ed as though his end had come. Among those 
who visited him during his sickness was a 
venerable priest, who knew something of his 
character and was deeply interested in. his 
case. '' Soon," said the sick student, in sor- 
rowful accents, '' soon I shall be summoned 
hence." But the prophetic old man kindly- 
answered, " My dear young friend, take cou- 
rage ! You will not die this time. Our God 
will raise you up, and make you his instru- 
ment in comforting many others. God lays 
his cross upon those whom he loves, and they 
who bear it patiently gain much wisdom." 
The words of this venerable father made a 
deep impression upon the sick youth. They 
revived his spirits, and infused sweet consola- 
tion into his heart. They were not forgotten 
after his recovery ; though as yet the course 
of his studies and the purpose of his life re- 
mained the same. 

In the year 1505, Luther became master of 
arts and doctor in philosophy. The occasion 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 55 

was one of high honour to him. There was 
a splendid procession and a general rejoicing. 

Encouraged by these honours, Luther pre- 
pared to apply himself wholly to the study of 
law, agreeably to the wishes of his father. 
But God willed otherwise ; and this will he 
now began very significantly to manifest. He 
manifested it in the conscience of the young 
man himself. His conscience incessantly re- 
minded him that religion was the one thing 
needful, and that his first care should be for the 
salvation of his soul. He knew God's hatred 
of sin, and the terrible penalty which He de- 
nounces against the sinner ; and when he asked 
himself, tremblingly, whether he was sure that 
he possessed the favour of God, his conscience 
promptly answered. No. This led him to re- 
solve anew, that he would do all that depended 
on himself, to secure a well grounded hope of 
heaven. 

The providences of God concurred also 
with the strivings of his 3pirit, to deepen con- 
viction and strengthen good resolutions in the 
mind of Luther. It was about this time that 
one of his most intimate college friends was 
basely murdered. As he looked upon the 



56 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

mangled body of his friend, the question arose 
in his mind with great power, *' What had be- 
come of me, if I had thus suddenly been called 
away ?" The more he revolved this question, 
the more it affected him, and filled him with 
the deeper anguish. 

Shortly after, as he was returning from a 
visit to his father, and had arrived within a few 
miles of Erfurth, he was overtaken by a violent 
storm. The winds roared; the lightnings 
flashed ; and a thunderbolt struck the ground 
close by his side. Luther fell on his knees, 
thinking that his hour had come. Death, 
judgment, and eternity were all before him, 
and in the midst of his terror and anguish he 
made a vow, that if God would appear for his 
deliverance, he would forsake the world and 
devote himself entirely to his service. God 
did appear for his deliverance ; and Luther, in 
his present ignorance, knew no way in which 
his vow could be performed, and that holiness 
which he sought could be acquired, but by en- 
tering a cloister. He must literally forsake the 
world, and bury himself in the seclusion of 
some one of the monastic orders. Such were 
the means employed by an inscrutable Provi- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 57 

deuce to change the whole destiny of Luther. 
He was smitten to the earth, much as Paul 
was ; and rose with a fixed determination to 
enter upon a new course of life. 

The manner in which Luther executed his 
resolution was very peculiar, but strongly cha- 
racteristic of himself. After his return to the 
university, he one evening invited his college 
friends to a simple but cheerful repast. The 
scene was enlivened with pleasant music. It 
was one of hilarity and joy. But when the 
gayety of his companions was at its height, 
Luther seized the moment to disclose to them 
the state of his mind, and acquaint them with 
the resolution which he had adopted. It was 
in vain that they attempted to expostulate and 
oppose. His purpose was fixed ; and that very 
night it v/as carried into complete execution. 
He abandoned his lodgings in the university, 
leaving behind him all his furniture and books, 
except Plautus and Virgil, (for as yet he had 
no Bible,) and repaired alone to the convent of 
the hermits of St. Augustine. He knocked 
for admittance. The door opened, and closed 
upon him, and Luther was separated from the 
world. The next day he sent letters to his 



58 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

friends, together v/ith the clothes which till then 
he had worn, and the ring which he had re- 
ceived when made master of arts, that nothing 
might be left to remind him of the world he 
had abandoned. 

When the acquaintances of Luther received 
his letters, they were filled with astonishment. 
They repaired, in great numbers, to the con- 
vent, in hopes of inducing him to retract his 
resolution; but in vain. The doors were 
closed against them ; and a whole month elapsed 
before any one was permitted to speak with 
the new monk, or even to see him. But the 
disappointment of his father at what had taken 
place was greater than that of all others. He 
had exerted himself to the utmost to support 
his son at the university, hoping to see him a 
barrister, a statesman, allied in marriage with 
the rich and the noble, and filling a large space 
in the eyes of the world ; and now, in one 
fatal night, all his ambitious projects are over- 
thrown. He wrote an angry letter to his son, 
in which he threatened him, if he persisted, 
with the entire loss of his favour, and with 
being utterly disinherited from a father's love. 
After a time, however, the feelings of the father 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 69 

softened, and he reluctantly submitted to that 
which he had no power to avert. 

The monks were, of course, exceedingly 
rejoiced at the acquisition they had gained. 
Full of admiration, they gathered around the 
young novitiate, commending his decision and 
renunciation of the world. Nevertheless, they 
soon began to treat him harshly, and to impose 
upon him the most menial services. He must 
open and shut the gates, wind up the clock, 
sweep the church, and clean the rooms. And 
when this work was done, he must take his 
bread-bag, and go through the streets of Er- 
furth, begging from door to door, and perhaps 
at the doors of those very persons who before 
had been his acquaintances and inferiors. But 
Luther bore it all with patience. Inclined, 
from his natural disposition to devote himself 
heartily to whatever he undertook, it was with 
his whole soul that he had become a monk. 
Besides, he no longer wished to spare his body, 
or to regard the satisfying of his flesh. It was 
by self-mortification that he expected to acquire 
that humility and holiness, in pursuit of which 
he had become an inmate of the cloister. 

The poor monk eagerly availed himself of 



60 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

every moment he could snatch from his degrad- 
ing employments to engage in his beloved stu- 
dies. But his brethren were dissatisfied with 
this, and forced him, by their murmurs, to lay 
his books aside. ''Come, come," said they, 
*'it is not by study that you can benefit the 
cloister, but by begging bread, corn, eggs, 
fish, meat and money." And so Luther was 
obliged to put away his books and resume his 
bag. Perhaps it was necessary that he should 
submit to these miserable impositions, in order 
that he might feel the full weight of them. To 
empty the cup, he must drink it to the dregs. 
The severity of this discipline did not last, 
however, so long as might have been appre- 
hended. Upon the intercession of the univer- 
sity of which Luther had been a member, the 
prior of the convent released him from those 
menial offices which his brethren had imposed 
upon him, and permitted him to engage in his 
favourite studies. It was now that he began 
to read the works of Augustine and the other 
fathers of the church. He found also in the 
cloister a Bible fastened with a chain ; and to 
this chained Bible he had recourse daily. He 
understood but little of the divine word ; but 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 61 

Still it was his most absorbing study. Some- 
times he would meditate all day on a single 
passage ; and then he would occupy himself 
in committing to memory select portions of 
Scripture. It was at this period that he began 
to study the sacred books in their original 
tongues, and thus lay a foundation for the most 
perfect and useful of all his works, the transla- 
tion of the Bible. He made use of Reuchlin's 
Hebrew Lexicon, which had just been pub- 
lished ; also of the comments of Nicholas 
Lyra. It was this latter circumstance which 
gave rise to the remark, " Si Lyra non lyr as- 
set, Lutherus non saltasset. If Lyra had not 
played his lyre, Luther had not danced." 

But it was not for purposes of study that 
Luther had abandoned the university, and im- 
mured himself in the recesses of a cloister. It 
was that he might crucify the flesh, secure the 
remission of sins and become holy. He was 
very punctual, therefore, in the observance of 
all the prescribed penances and rules. He 
spared neither fastings, macerations, nor vigils. 
On one occasion, he passed seven whole 
weeks almost without sleep, A little bread 
and a single herring were often his only food. 
6 



62 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

He was continually struggling against the evil 
thoughts and inclinations of his heart, and was 
willing to endure any suffering, or make any 
sacrifice, for the sake of becoming holy and 
gaining heaven. In a letter written long after- 
wards to Duke George of Saxony, he says, 
*'I was so devout a monk, and followed the 
rules of my order so strictly, that I cannot tell 
you all. If ever a monk entered heaven by 
his monkish merits, certainly I should have 
gained admittance there. All the monks who 
knew me will confirm this ; and if I had per- 
severed much longer, I should have become 
literally a martyr, through watchings, prayer, 
reading and other labours.'' 

But the distressing anxieties which had 
pressed upon the heart of Luther while in the 
world, pursued him to his cell. He found no 
peace to his conscience, or rest to his soul. 
Through the teachings of the divine word and 
Spirit, he had formed some conception of what 
it is to be holy ; and he was distressed at find- 
ing neither in his heart nor his life, any appear- 
ance of that holiness which he saw to be 
needful. A dreadful discovery this, to every 
enlightened, convicted sinner ! No righteous- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 63 

ness within ; none without. Everywhere, 
omission of duty; everywhere, pollution and 
guilt. The more ardent Luther's natural cha- 
racter, the more powerful was his secret and 
constant resistance to that which was good, 
and the deeper did he find himself plunged in 
misery and despair. Those around him en- 
couraged him to perform good works, and in 
that way to satisfy the divine justice. "But 
what works," said he, " can proceed out of a 
heart like mine ! How can I, with works pol- 
luted even in their source and motive, stand 
hefore a holy judge !" 

Luther, at this period, was greatly agitated 
and distressed. He moved, like a spectre, 
through the long corridors of his cloister, with 
sighs and groans. He found to his sorrow 
that, although by entering the convent he had 
obtained a change of garment, he had expe- 
rienced no change of heart. He performed 
penances, repeated prayers and confessed daily ; 
but all was of no use. The burden was 
still upon his spirit, and nought that he had 
power to do could remove it. Under the an- 
guish of his mind, his bodily powers failed; 



64 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

his strength forsook him ; and he was rapidly 
drawing to the gates of death. 

Not knowing what else to make of him, the 
monks thought him possessed with the devil. 
At one time, having been shut up in his cell 
for several days and nights, he was found 
stretched on the floor in a state of entire uncon- 
sciousness and without any signs of life. And 
it is remarkable that he could be aroused from 
this state only by the sweet sounds of music. 
The fine voices of some choral singers ope- 
rated like a charm upon the poor dying monk, 
and by degrees his strength and consciousness 
returned. But he awakened only to a renewed 
sense of his misery. He needed some more pow- 
erful remedy to reach the malady of his heart. 

But the day of his deliverance now ap- 
proached. The vicar-general of the Augus- 
tines for all Germany was John Staupitz ; and 
the period of his visit to the convent at Erfurth 
had arrived. Staupitz had formerly passed 
through troubles very similar to those of Lu- 
ther, and had found joy and peace in Christ. 
He was well qualified, therefore, to deal with 
the distressed young monk, whom he found on 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 65 

his visit to Erfurth. He was informed respect- 
ing him by the other members of the convent ; 
sought him out ; won his confidence by con- 
descension and kindness ; and dealt with him 
in the most prudent and faithful manner. When 
Luther told him how vain it was for him to 
make resolutions and promises, Staupitz ad- 
vised him to make no more. " If God, for 
Chris fs sake, will not be merciful to us, all 
our vows and good works will be of no avail." 
When Luther set before him the terrible ap- 
prehensions which he cherished as to the holi- 
ness and justice of God, exclaiming, " Who 
can endure the day of his coming ? iVnd who 
can stand when he appeareth?" Staupitz re- 
plied : " Why do you distress yourself with 
these speculations and high thoughts ? Look 
to the wounds of Jesus Christ — to the blood 
which he has shed for you. It is there you 
will see the mercy of God. Instead of tor- 
turing yourself for your faults, cast yourself 
into the arms of the Redeemer. Trust in 
him,-— in the righteousness of his life — in the 
expiatory sacrifice of his death. Do not shrink 
away from him. God is not against you ; it is 
you who are estranged and averse from God." 
6^ 



66 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Ill answer to the objection of Luther, that he 
did not find in himself that repentance which 
he thought necessary to salvation, Staupitz 
replied by explaining the nature of repentance. 
" It does not consist in austerities and penances, 
but begins in the love of God. That which 
some fancy to be the end of repentance is only 
the beginning of it. If you wish to become 
penitent and converted, do not follow these 
self-mortifications and inflictions ; but love him 
toho has first loved you,''^ 

These were strange words to the ears of Lu- 
ther. He listens, and listens again. He flies 
to the Scriptures and consults all the passages 
which speak of repentance and conversion. " It 
is even so, as my friend has said. Repentance 
must begin in the love of God." A new light 
now enters the mind of the pained sinner, and 
new consolations spring up in his soul. "It 
is Jesus Christ — yes, it is Jesus Christ him- 
self that comforts me by these sweet and salu- 
tary words. Before, there was no word in 
the Bible more bitter to me than repentance ; 
but now there is not one more sweet and plea- 
sant. All those passages of Scripture which 
once alarmed me seem now to flow toofether 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 67 

from all sides, to spring up, and smile and play 
arounil my heart. O how blessed are all 
God's precepts, when we read them, not in 
books alone, but in the precious wounds of the 
Saviour?" 

But these consolations of Luther were not 
without seasons of interruption. Sin was 
again felt in his tender conscience, and then 
he relapsed into his former despair. " O 
my sin ! my sin ! my sin !" he one day cried 
out in the presence of Staupitz, and in a tone 
of the bitterest grief. '' Well," replied the 
latter, '* would you be only the semblance of a 
sinner, and have only the semblance of a Sa- 
viour ? Know that Jesus Christ is the Saviour 
of those who are real and great sinners, and 
deserving of utter condemnation." 

Luther had trouble at this time not only with 
the state of his heart, but with some of the 
higher doctrines of the gospel. He wished 
to penetrate into the secret counsels of God — 
to unveil his mysteries and comprehend the 
incomprehensible. But his friend Staupitz 
checked him. He persuaded him not to at- 
tempt to fathom God, but to confine himself to 
what he has revealed of his character in Christ. 



68 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

*' Look at the wounds of* Christ, and you will 
there see clearly the purpose of God towards 
man. We cannot understand God out of 
Christ." 

Staupitz also endeavoured to impress upon 
Luther that God had some wise and good de- 
sign in permitting him to be exercised with 
so many trials. *' It is not for nothing that 
God proves you in this way. You will yet 
see there are great things in which he will 
make use of you as his minister." These 
words inspired the desponding monk with 
courage, and led him to regard his protracted 
sufferings in a new and interesting light. 

Before leaving the convent the vicar-general 
also gave Lather a Bible, and directed him to 
the diligent and persevering study of it. Better 
advice than this certainly was never given ; 
nor was any advice ever more faithfully fol- 
lowed. Except the works of St. Augustine, 
the Scriptures now constituted the only study 
of Luther ; and his mind was in a state to 
receive and love the truth. It was to him as 
cold water to the fainting soul. The soil of 
his heart had been thoroughly ploughed, and 
in it the incorruptible seed took deep root. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 69 

When Staiipitz left Erfurth, a new and glorious 
light had risen on the mind of Luther. 

Shordy after this, Luther was ordained priest; 
on which occasion his father became recon- 
ciled to him, and made him a present of twenty 
florins. Immediately upon his consecration 
he began to preach in the parishes and convents 
in "the vicinity of Erfurth. 

But the time now drew near in which he 
was to be transferred to a wider sphere of use- 
fulness than any which he had ever thought 
oL On the recommendation of his friend 
Staupitz, Frederic, the Elector of Saxony, 
near the close of the year 1508, appointed him 
to a professorship in his recently established 
university at Wittemberg. Luther thought it 
his duty to accept this appointment, and re- 
moved hastily from the cloister at Erfurth, 
after he had remained there about three years. 



70 MORNING or THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER III. 

Luther's labours and studies at Wittemberg — Popularity 
as a lecturer and preacher — Goes on an embassy to 
Rome — Shocked with what he saw there — Becomes a 
doctor of divinity and teacher of the Bible — Attacks 
the schoolmen and the prevaiUng superstitions — Visits 
the Augustine convents — Exposed to the plague — 
Oppressed with labour — His theses on depravity, 
free-will and grace — History of indulgences — Tetzel's 
manner of selling them — His preaching on the sub- 
ject — Tetzel outwitted — Minds of people divided and 
distressed. 

We have pursued the history of Luther till 
his arrival at Wittemberg, to enter on the 
duties of his professorship. He took up his 
abode in the convent of the Augustines ; for, 
though a professor, he ceased not to be a monk. 
It devolved on him to teach physics and dia- 
lectics ; and, of course, to engage renewedly 
in the study of these branches. In his present 
state of mind this was to him a hard necessity ; 
yet he submitted to it. Writing to a friend at 
this time, he says, ''I am very well, by God's 
favour, but that I am compelled to give my whole 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 71 

attention to philosophy. I long to exchange 
it for theology — that theology which seeks the 
kernel of the nut, the pulp of the wheat, the 
marrow of the bone. But however things 
may go, God is God. Man almost always 
errs in judgment; but this is our God forever 
and ever; he will be our guide even unto 
death." 

When not engaged in studies direcdy con- 
nected with the duties of his office, Luther 
flew with eagerness to the Bible. He endea- 
voured to increase his knowledge of the origi- 
nal languages of the Bible, that he might be 
no longer dependent on translations, but derive 
his views of doctrine from the fountain head. 
In consequence of these studies, he was, within 
less than a year after his arrival at Wittemberg, 
honoured with the degree of bachelor of di- 
vinity, and directed to deliver a lecture every 
day on the Bible. He commenced these lec- 
tures by explaining the Psalms ; and then took 
up the Epistle to the Romans. He found this 
exercise interesting and instructive not only to 
his pupils, but to himself. He gained a deeper 
insight into the method of a sinner's justifica- 
tion, and into the springs and motives of the 



72 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Christian life. One passage in particular was 
specially dear to him, not only at this period 
but ever afterwards : The just shall live by 
faith. 

These lectures of Luther were different from 
any which had ever before been heard in Ger- 
many. He stood before his auditors, not as 
an eloquent rhetorician, or a pedantic school- 
man, but as a minister of Christ, who drew 
his instructions from the Bible and from the 
treasury of his own heart. The fame of his 
teaching very soon began to spread, and stu- 
dents in great numbers were drawn together 
to enjoy it. And not only students, but learn- 
ed professors and doctors often mingled in the 
crowd that gathered around him. The cele- 
brated Martin PoUich of Mellerstadt, after hear- 
ing him, said, «' This monk will put all the doc- 
tors to the rout. He will introduce a new style 
of doctrine, and reform the whole church. He 
builds upon the word of Christ; and no one 
in this world can resist or overthrow that word, 
though it should be attacked with all the wea- 
pons of philosophers, sophists, Albertists, Sco- 
tists, and Thomists." 

At the earnest solicitation of his friend Stau- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 73 

pitz, Luther commenced preaching in the 
church of the Augustines. It was an old wood- 
en chapel, thirty feet long and twenty broad, 
whose walls, propped on all sides, were falling 
to ruins. '' That building," remarks one of 
the historians of the Reformation,* *' may well 
be compared to the stable in which Christ was 
born. It was in that old building that God 
willed (if we may so speak) that his beloved 
Son should be born a second time. Amongst 
the thousand splendid cathedrals and parish 
churches with which the world was filled, not 
one was chosen in which to publish the an- 
nouncement of everlasting life." 

In this chapel, Luther opened his public 
ministry at Wittemberg ; but the crowds who 
came together to hear him, soon rendered it 
necessary to seek more spacious accommoda- 
tions. The council of Wittemberg selected 
him for their minister, and invited him to 
preach in the great church of the city. His 
labours here were equally commanding and 
attractive. *' Possessing," says one of his ad- 
versaries, '* a lively intelligence and a retentive 

* Myconius. 

7 



74 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

memory, and speaking his mother tongue with 
remarkable fluency, Luther was surpassed in 
eloquence by none of his contemporaries. Ad- 
dressing his hearers from his place in the pul- 
pit, as if he had been agitated by some power- 
ful passion, and adapting his actions to the 
words, he affected their minds in a surprising 
manner, and carried them like a torrent whi- 
ther he would."* 

This life of useful public labour, succeeding 
to the melancholy musings of the cloister, was 
just that which Luther needed. Freedom, 
employment, earnest and regular action, com- 
pleted the re-establishment of harmony and 
peace in his spirit. He was now, at last, in 
his proper place, and the work of the Lord 
was prospering around him. 

It was while he was diligently pursuing his 
course of instruction both in the university and 
in the church, that he was interrupted by an 
appointment to go on an embassy to Rome. 
A difference had arisen between several of the 
Augustinian convents and the Vicar-general 
Staupitz, and Luther was commissioned to lay 

* Raymond. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 75 

the matter before the pontiff, and effect an ad- 
justment. 

He commenced his journey, and crossed the 
Alps ; but no sooner had he arrived in Italy, 
than he found matter of surprise and scandal 
at every step. He lodged at a convent of the 
Benedictines in Lombardy. This convent had 
an annual revenue of thirty-six thousand du- 
cats ; and the buildings, the furniture, the 
provisions of the table, the style of living, all 
were on a scale of the utmost extravagance. 
Every thing was fitted to surprise the poor 
monk of Wittemberg ; but he remained silent 
until Friday, when, to his amazement, he found 
the table loaded with an abundance of meats. 
'' The pope and the church forbid such 
things," said he ; and threatened the monks, 
in case they persisted, to report their irregu- 
larities at Rome. The Benedictines were of- 
fended at his rebuke, and intended privately 
to put him out of the way ; but he left them, 
and pursued his journey to Bologna. He was 
detained here for a time by a fit of sickness, 
occasioned, as some thought, by poison, ad- 
ministered by the angry monks of Lombardy ; 



76 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

but at length he recovered, and went forward 
to Rome. 

His feelings, as he approached the eternal 
city, were raised to the highest pitch of enthu- 
siasm. Here had been the home of Plautus 
and Virgil, and all those renowned scholars of 
antiquity, whose works arid whose history had 
so often stirred his heart. Here, too, was the 
scene of Paul's labours and sufferings ; the 
church to which he addressed his most labour- 
ed epistle ; the hired house in which he lived ; 
the earth which drank his blood ; and with 
which had mingled the ashes of a thousand 
martyrs. And here was the queen of all the 
churches ; the seat of the holy vicar of Christ ; 
the metropolis of the whole Christian world. 
For it must be remembered that Luther, at this 
time, was a most devout Romanist. He had been 
enlightened in regard to many important Chris- 
tian doctrines ; he had felt the power of divine 
grace in his heart ; but he had not ceased to 
regard the pope, in all the plenitude of his as- 
sumed character, and the church over which 
he presided, with its imposing array of rituals 
and cardinals, as the proper arbitress of Christ- 
endom. He had supposed, too, that Rome 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 77 

must exceed all other churches as much in 
sanctity as in dignity ; that as it was the most 
sacred of all places under heaven, so it must be 
proportionally the most holy. With these im- 
pressions fastened on his mind, it is not strange 
that his enthusiasm was enkindled as he ap- 
proached the seven-hilled city. When he ac- 
tually saw its towers in the distance, it is not 
strange that he fell prostrate on the earth, ex- 
claiming, " Holy Rome, I salute thee 1" 

The impressions of Luther as to the superior 
sanctity of Rome, continued for a time after 
his entrance into the city. He visited the 
numerous churches and chapels ; gave credit 
to all the marvellous stories that were told 
him ; went through, with devotion, the obser- 
vances required ; and was pleased at being 
able to perform so many pious acts from which 
his friends at home were debarred. He even 
regretted (so he afterwards assures us) that 
his father and mother were not already dead, 
that he might have the privilege of delivering 
them from the fires of purgatory, by his 
masses, his prayers, and other admirable works. 
But as Luther prolonged his stay at Rome, and 
mingled more freely with the priests and peo- 
7* 



78 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

pie, his faith as to its transcendent holiness 
was sorely shaken. He was shocked at the 
impious haste, the profane and heartless for- 
mality with which the clergy celebrated the 
sacraments. He was shocked at finding so 
many infidels at Rome ; men who denied the 
immortality of the soul, and affirmed the ortho- 
dox faith to be only a cunning invention of the 
saints. He was shocked at the terrible state 
of morals in the city, exceeding in depravity 
all that he had ever heard or dreamed of. " It 
is incredible," says he, " what sins and atro- 
cities are committed in Rome. They must 
be seen and heard to be believed ; so that it is 
usual to say, If there he a hell, Rome is built 
above it. It is an abyss from ivhich all 
wickedness proceeds.''^ As he mingled with 
prelates and the higher ecclesiastics, he found 
the same profane levity and heartless mockery 
of sacred things, which he had before observed 
in the inferior clergy ; and there were none 
who seemed to notice it ; none who reproved 
it. And when he looked to the pontifical 
throne, he saw nothing better. The blood- 
thirsty Julius n. was seated there, filling Italy 
with carnage and desolation, and hurling the 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 79 

firebrands of War and contention throughout 
the earth. 

It was the least of the advantages of this 
embassy to Rome, that Luther accomplished 
successfully the immediate object of his mis- 
sion. He improved the opportunity for pur- 
poses of study, taking lessons in Hebrew from 
a celebrated Jewish Rabbin. In the utter 
uselessness and absurdity of many of the en- 
joined observances, he was led to see, more 
clearly than ever before, the truth and import- 
ance of the great doctrine of his life ; that of 
justification by faith alone. But more espe- 
cially, the veil of reputed sanctity was torn 
away, and he was enabled to discover the true 
character of Rome. Instead of superior holi- 
ness, as he had before imagined, he saw her all 
putrid in her own corruptions; and he turned 
away from her with loathing and disgust. At 
a later period of life, Luther felt deeply the 
importance of this visit to Rome. '' Not for 
a hundred thousand florins," said he, '' would 
I have missed the opportunity of seeing 
Rome." 

The obj ect of his mission being accomplished, 
Luther left Rome, and returned to Wittemberg. 



80 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

At the earnest solicitation of Staupitz, he^hortly 
afterwards received the degree of doctor in di- 
vinity, w^ith special reference to his vocation 
as a teacher of the Bible, By a public and 
solemn oath, he now bound and engaged him- 
self, " to teach the Scriptures faithfully, to 
preach them in purity, to study them all his 
days, and to defend them, so far as God should 
enable him, by disputation and writing, against 
false teachers." To this solemn engagement 
he often referred in subsequent life, in justifi- 
cation of his resistance to the superstitions of 
Rome. He was called, he said, *' by the uni- 
versity, by his sovereign, in the name of the 
imperial majesty, and of the Roman see itself, 
and bound before God by the most sacred of 
oaths," to become the champion of the Bible, 
and to defend it against all the corruptions of 
men. The event here referred to has been 
regarded by some of his biographers as consti- 
tuting the third step in his preparation for the 
great work before him. His entrance into the 
convent had turned his thoughts decidedly to- 
wards God ; his spiritual discovery of the 
method of a sinner's salvation had delivered 
his soul from bondage and fear ; while the oath 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 81 

he had now taken constituted him the reformer 
of the church. 

The first objects of his attack were the phi- 
losophers and schoolmen, whom he had studied 
so deeply, and who now reigned supreme in 
ail the universities. He boldly undertook to 
hurl them from the throne which they had so 
long occupied, and where they exercised so 
commanding an influence over the minds and 
hearts of men. He also united himself with 
Reuchlin, Erasmus, Hutten, and other distin- 
guished champions of critical learning, in their 
controversy with the monks. It was about this 
time that his intimacy with Spalatin com- 
menced — a friendship of the utmost importance 
to him ; since Spalatin was chaplain and private 
secretary to the elector, and was the only me- 
dium through which Luther could have access 
to his sovereign's ear. His preaching at the 
church in Wittemberg was in demonstration 
of the Spirit and with power, and was listened 
to by multitudes of all ranks with the deepest 
interest. He preached a series of discourses 
on the ten commandments, which have been 
preserved to us, under the name of declama- 
tions for the people. He preached against the 



82 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

multiform superstitions of the age ; such as 
" signs and omens, the observance of particu- 
lar days and months, familiar demons, phan- 
toms, influences of the stars, incantations, 
metamorphoses, incubi and succubi, the patron- 
age of saints, and other like things," endeavour- 
ing with a strong hand to cast down these false 
gods, one after another, to the ground. But 
especially did he show the difference between 
the law and the gospel, and refute the error, so 
predominant in that age, that men, by their 
own works, obtain remission of sins, and are 
made righteous before God. " The desire to 
justify ourselves," said he, " is the spring of 
all our distress of heart; but he who receives 
Christ as a Saviour has peace ; and not only 
peace, but purity of soul. All sanctification is 
the fruit of faith, for faith in us is a divine 
work, which changes us, and gives us a new 
birth, emanating from God himself. It kills 
Adam in us, and, through the Holy Spirit, it 
gives us a new heart, and makes us new men." 
Thus Luther laboured more and more to make 
all men understand the great essential doctrines 
of conversion, faith, the forgiveness of sins 
and the consolations of the Spirit. At the same 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 83 

time he interfered not at all with the appointed 
ceremonies of the church. The established 
discipline had not, in all Christendom, a more 
faithful observer and defender than he. 

In the year 1516, during the temporary ab- 
sence of the Vicar-general Staupitz, Luther was 
commissioned to take his place, and to visit the 
monasteries of Misnia and Thuringia. In the 
course of this visitation, he came to Erfurth, 
to exercise the functions of vicar-general in 
the same convent, where, eleven years before, 
he had wound up the clock, opened the gates, 
and swept the floor of the church. In this 
place, as in all other places which he visited, 
he gave the most judicious advice, and left 
behind him a favourable impression. "Do 
not," said he to the monks, '*join yourselves 
to Aristotle, or to the other teachers of a mis- 
leading philosophy, but apply yourselves to the 
study of the divine word. Seek not your sal- 
vation in your own strength and good works, 
but in the grace of God and the merits of Je- 
sus." Luther returned to Wittemberg, after an 
absence of six weeks, happy in the conviction 
that his labour had not been in vain. He had 
sown much good seed in the different Augus- 



84 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 

tinian convents, and in a little time it sprang 
up and bore valuable fruit. *Some of the most 
strenuous defenders of the Reformation came 
forth, subsequently, from these convents. 

Luther now resumed his usual occupations, 
and vi^as, by his own account, overwhelmed, 
with labour. '^ I require," said he, " almost 
continually two secretaries; for I do scarce 
any thing else, all day long, than write letters. 
I am preacher to the convent, reader of prayers 
at table, pastor and parish minister, director of 
studies, vicar of the priory, inspector of the 
fish-ponds at Litzkau, counsel to the inns of 
Herzberg, lecturer on St. Paul, and commen- 
tator on the Psalms. Seldom have I time to 
say my prayers, or to sing a hymn; not to 
mention my struggle with flesh and blood, the 
devil and the world. See what an idle man I 
am." 

The plague, at this time, broke out at Wit- 
temberg, and a great number of the teachers 
and students left the town. But Luther re- 
mained. " I do not know," he writes, *« whether 
the plague will suffer me to finish the epistle 
to the Galatians. Quick and sudden in its at- 
tack, it makes great havoc, especially among 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 85 

the young. You advise me to flee ; but whither 
shall I flee ? I hope the world will not go to 
pieces, if brother Martin should fall.* If the 
plague spreads, I will send the brethren away 
in all directions ; but, for my own part, I am 
placed here, nor does' obedience allow me to 
leave the spot, until He who called me hither 
shall call me away. Not that I am above the 
fear of death ; for I am not the Apostle Paul, 
but only his commentator; but I trust the Lord 
will deliver me from the fear of it, when it 
comes." Such were the courage and resolu- 
tion of Luther, before he commenced his attacks 
upon Rome. No wonder he did not shrink, 
through the fear of death, afterwards. 

In July, 1517, Duke George of Saxony re- 
quested Staupitz to send him a learned and 
eloquent preacher. Staupitz sent Luther, re- 
commending him as a man of great learning 
and of irreproachable character. Luther went 
and preached at Dresden, in the chapel of the 
castle, on St. James's day. He was listened to 
by the duke and all his court, and his discourse 
was blessed to the hopeful conversion of some 

* Luther did not then know of how much importance 
his life was to the world. 



86 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

two or three individuals. But his audience, in 
general, were not benefited. The duke was 
displeased because, as he thought, the preacher 
disparaged good works ; and he became, in 
subsequent life, one of the most violent enemies 
of the Reformation. It was here that Luther 
first became acquainted with Emser, who was 
secretary and counsellor to the duke, and with 
whom, in the progress of things, he engaged 
more than once in open controversy. 

It was a custom of the philosophers and 
theologians, in the times of which we speak, 
to awaken interest and provoke discussion, by 
publishing theses, or a string of connected pro- 
positions, relating to some controverted subject. 
Luther's first theses, of which we have any 
account, were put forth in the year 1516, and 
led to a very earnest discussion of the doctrines 
of human depravity, the necessity of divine 
grace, and of salvation by Christ alone. 

In the summer of 1517 he published ninety- 
nine propositions on the kindred subjects of 
free-will and grace, in which it was his object 
not to deny the free agency of man, but to 
insist that, in his natural state, man is under 
what the Scriptures call the bondage of cor- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 87 

ruption, and needs the grace of God to set 
him free. These propositions were sent to 
several of the universities, particularly those 
of Erfurth and Ingolstadt ; but they awakened 
no extended interest, and led to no contro- 
versy ; — a plain proof that the Romish church, 
at that period, was not so much concerned 
about the doctrines of its members as about its 
own revenues and supremacy. A person might 
hold and teach almost any thing, in the way of 
theological speculation, and if he was careful 
to touch, as Erasmus said, neither " the pope's 
crown nor the monks' bellies," he w^as pretty 
likely to escape unhurt. 

But the time had now come when Luther 
regarded himself as called to touch these ten- 
der points. For several centuries the sale of 
indulgences had been carried on, to a greater 
or less extent, in the church of Rome. Indul- 
gences, at the first, were but the commutation 
or remission of ecclesiastical censures. A per- 
son, by some act, had incurred the censure of 
the church, and must perform an enjoined 
penance before receiving absolution. But in 
place of the penance the church agreed to 
accept a sum of money. '* Pay me so much 



88 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

money," said the priest, *' and I will give you 
a certificate of satisfaction or absolution;" 
which certificate was called an indulgence. 
These indulgences originally had respect only 
to past offences ; but when once introduced 
they were soon extended to sins in prospect. 
" Pay me so much money, and I will absolve 
you from any intended or contemplated act of 
sin." They were extended, too, after a time, 
so as to remove not only the inflictions of the 
church in this world, but divine punishments 
in the world to come. And persons were re- 
presented as able, by the payment of money, 
not only to save themselves from future mise- 
ries, but to rescue their friends, also, who were 
already suffering in purgatorial fire. 

The sale of indulgences commenced with 
the bishops ; but the pontiffs, perceiving the 
advantages of the traffic, soon contrived to get 
it into their own hands. To give to it a de- 
gree of plausibility and support, a new doc- 
trine was invented in the twelfth century, 
which was improved and perfected by Thomas 
Aquinas in the thirteenth, viz. that, in addi- 
tion to the merits of Christ, there is an immense 
treasury of good works, which holy men have 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 89 

performed over and above what duty required ; 
and that the Roman pontiff is the keeper and 
distributer of this treasure ; so that he is able, 
out of this inexhaustible fund, to give and 
transfer to every one such an amount of good 
works as his necessities require, or as will 
suffice to avert the punishment of his sins. 
Such is the theory of Romish indulgences ; 
and such, in few words, is their early his- 
tory. 

Indulgences had been sold from time to time 
by the popes, under pretence of raising money 
for the crusades, or to carry on war against 
the Turks, or for the extirpation of heretics ; 
in short, whenever the court of Rome needed 
money, and some plausible pretext could be 
invented to justify the measure. The com- 
mon method of procedure, in such cases, was 
to '* farm out" the indulgences : for the papal 
court could not always wait to have the mo- 
ney collected and conveyed from every coun- 
try of Europe ; and there were wealthy mer- 
chants, here and there, who stood ready to 
purchase the indulgences for particular pro- 
vinces, and would be sure to sell them so as to 
secure a good bargain to themselves. 
8* 



90 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Leo X. was advanced to the pontifical thtone 
in the year 1513. By his magnificence, his 
indolence, his love of show, his prodigal ex- 
penses of various kinds, he soon emptied his 
coffers and reduced himself to pecuniary 
straits. In these circumstances, and under 
pretence of raising money to complete the 
erection of St. Peter's church, which had been 
begun by his predecessor, he commenced, on 
a large scale, the dispensing of indulgences. 
The promulgation of these indulgences through- 
out Germany was intrusted to Albert, Arch- 
bishop of Mentz, who was himself to receive 
a share of the profits. The pope and the 
archbishop, having thus divided beforehand 
the spoils of Germany, it was necessary to 
find some one of sufficient address and impu- 
dence to hawk their indulgences and bring in 
the profits. This service was first offered to 
the Franciscans, who very prudently declined 
it. But the Dominicans were forward to take 
part in the lucrative trade ; and John Tetzel, a 
brother of their order, who had already had 
some experience in such matters, hastened to 
Mentz, and tendered his services to the arch- 
bishop. He was accepted ; and the manner 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 91 

in which he discharged the office is thus de- 
scribed by a recent historian.* 

Tetzel drove '* through the country in a gay 
carriage, escorted by three horsemen, in great 
state, and spending freely. One might have 
thought him some dignitary on a royal pro- 
gress, with his attendants and officers, and not 
a common dealer or a begging monk. When 
the procession approached a town, a messenger 
waited on the chief magistrate, with the pro- 
clamation : The grace of God and of the 
holy Father is at your gates ! Instantly every 
thing in the place was in motion. The clergy, 
the priests, the nuns, the council, the school- 
masters, tbe different trades with their flags, 
men and women, young and old, went forth to 
meet the holy merchants, with lighted tapers 
in their hands, advancing to the sound of mu- 
sic and of all the bells in the place ; so that 
(as one remarks) they could hardly have given 
a grander welcome to God himself. Saluta- 
tions being exchanged, the whole procession 
moved towards the church. The pontiff's 
bull of grace was borne in front, on a velvet 
cushion or a cloth of gold. The vender of 

* D'Aubigne. 



92 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

indulgences followed, supporting a large red 
wooden cross ; and the whole procession 
moved in this manner amidst singing, prayers 
and the smoke of incense. With the sound 
of organs and other musical instruments the 
monkish dealer and his attendants were re- 
ceived into the church. The red cross was 
erected in front of the altar, on which was 
hung the pope's arms ; and as long as it re- 
mained there, the clergy of the place, the peni- 
tentiaries and the sub-commissioners, with 
white wands in their hands, came every day 
after vespers, or before the salutation, to do 
homage to it." 

Tetzel, at this time, was somewhat advanced 
in life ; but his voice was sonorous, and he 
seemed to be yet in the prime of his strength. 
He had an allowance of eighty florins per 
month, and all his expenses paid. His port 
and equipage were imposing, but his moral 
character was notoriously bad. He had been 
convicted at Inspruck of such abominable pro- 
fligacy, that he came near paying the forfeit 
of his life. The Emperor Maximilian ordered 
that he should be sewed up in a sack and 
thrown into the river ; but the Elector Frederic 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 93 

of Saxony interceded for him and obtained his 
pardon. There could hardly have been found, 
in all the cloisters of Germany, a man more 
adapted to the traffic in which he was engaged. 
To the theology of a monk, and the zeal and 
spirit of an inquisitor, he united the greatest 
eifrontery. He had an admirable tact in the 
invention of stories with which to amuse com- 
mon people. No means came amiss to him 
which were likely to fill his coffers. " Lift- 
ing up his voice, and giving loose to a coarse 
volubility, he offered his indulgences to all 
comers, and excelled any salesman at a fair in 
recommending his merchandise." 

As soon as the red cross was elevated with 
the pope's arms upon it, Tetzel mounted the 
pulpit, and, with a bold tone, began to exalt 
the efficacy of indulgences. The people list- 
ened and wondered at the admirable virtues 
ascribed to them. " Indulgences," said he, 
" are the most precious and sublime of God's 
gifts. This cross" (pointing to the red cross) 
" has as much efficacy as the cross of Jesus 
Christ. Draw near, and I will give you let- 
ters, duly sealed, by which even the sins you 
shall hereafter desire to commit shall be for- 



94 MORNING 0¥ THE REFORMATION. 

given you. I would not exchange ray privi- 
leges for those of St. Peter in heaven ; for I 
have saved more souls with my indulgences 
than he with his sermons. There is no sin so 
great that the indulgence cannot remit it. Even 
if any one (which is doubtless impossible) 
should ravish the holy Virgin Mother of God, 
let him pay largely, and it shall be forgiven 
him. 

" But more than all this ; indulgences save, 
not the living only, but the dead. The very 
moment that the money clinks against the bot- 
tom of the chest, the soul escapes from purga- 
tory, and flies free to heaven. Ye priests, ye 
nobles, ye tradesmen, ye wives, ye maidens, 
and ye young men; hearken to your departed 
parents and friends, who cry to you from the 
bottomless pit : ' We are enduring the most 
horrible torments ! A small alms would deliver 
us ! You ca7i give it, and you will not !' 

" O senseless people, and almost like beasts, 
who do not comprehend the grace so richly 
offered ! This day, heaven is on all sides open. 
Do you now refuse to enter? When, then, do 
you intend to come in? This day you may 
redeem many souls. Dull and heedless man, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 95 

with ten groschen you can deliver your father 
from purgatory ; and you are so ungrateful that 
you will not do it. In the day of judgment, 
my conscience will be clear ; but you will be 
punished the more severely, for neglecting so 
great a salvation. I protest, that though you 
had only one coat, you ought to strip it off and 
sell it, to purchase this grace. Our Lord God 
no longer deals with us as God ; he has given 
all power to the pope." 

Having exhausted his subject in this direc- 
tion, the eloquent preacher then turned to an- 
other topic. " Do you know why our lord the 
pope distributes so rich a grace ? The dilapi- 
dated church of St. Peter and St. Paul is to be 
restored, so as to be without a parallel in the 
whole earth. That church contains the bodies 
of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, and a vast 
company of martyrs. Owing to the present 
condition of the edifice, those sacred bodies are 
now, alas ! continually trodden down, flooded, 
polluted, dishonoured, and rotting in rain and 
hail. Ah! shall those holy ashes be suffered 
any longer to remain thus degraded !" 

The motive here presented never failed to 
produce an impression on many hearers. There 



96 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

was an eager desire to aid poor Leo X., who 
had not the means of sheltering from the hail 
and rain the bodies of Peter and Paul. 

The preacher next proceeded to anathematize 
all those who should dispute or oppose his 
mission ; and then turning to the docile portion 
of his audience, and impiously perverting a 
passage of Scripture, he said, '' Blessed are 
the eyes that see what ye see ; for I tell you 
that many prophets and kings have desired to 
see the things which ye see, and have not seen 
them, and to hear the things which ye hear, and 
have not heard them." 

After finishing his address, it was the custom 
of Tetzel to point to his strong box, and cry 
out to the people, " Now bring your money ! 
Bring money ! Bring money !" " He uttered 
this cry," says Luther, " with such a dreadful 
bellowing, that one might have thought some 
wild bull was rushing among the people, and 
goring them with his horns." 

The sermon being ended, the commissioner 
of indulgences was considered as having estab- 
lished his throne in the place with due solem- 
nity. The people then came in crowds to the 
assistant confessors. They came, not with 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 97 

contrite hearts, but with money in their hands. 
Men and women, the young, the poor, and 
those who were dependent on public charity, 
every one then found money. The absolving 
priest, after again explaining and extolling the 
indulgence, thus addressed the applicants : 
" How much money can you, in your con- 
science, spare, to obtain so perfect a remission?" 
The object of this question was to impress the 
consciences of the applicants, and lead them 
to contribute with greater liberality. 

When the faithful had confessed, (and this 
took them but a little while,) they hastened 
directly to the vender. Only one person was 
commissioned to sell, and he had his counter 
hard by the cross. He carefully scrutinized 
all who came, examining their step, their man- 
ner and attire, and demanded a sum in propor- 
tion to their apparent circumstances. Kings, 
queens, princes, archbishops and bishops were 
to pay for an ordinary indulgence twenty-five 
ducats ; abbots, counts and barons, ten ducats ; 
other nobles, and all who had an annual income 
of five hundred florins, six ducats. Those 
whose income was only two hundred florins, 
paid one ducat ; the rest, in general, paid half 
9 



98 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

a florin. For particular sins, Tetzel had a pri- 
vate scale. Polygamy was charged six ducats ; 
sacrilege and perjury, nine ; murder, eight ; and 
witchcraft, two. 

With all his effrontery and subtilty, Tetzel 
found some dealers who were too cunning for 
him. A Saxon gentleman, who had heard him 
at Leipsic, inquired if he was authorized to par- 
don sins of intention, or such as the applicant 
intended to commit. ** Assuredly," answered 
Tetzel; "full power is given me by the pope 
to do so." ''Well," returned the gentleman, 
" I wish to be revenged on one of my enemies, 
without attempting his life. I will pay you ten 
crowns for a letter of indulgence that shall bear 
me harmless," Tetzel demurred, but at length 
the bargain was concluded for thirty crowns. 
Shortly after, Tetzel departed from Leipsic. 
The gentleman, attended by his servants, way- 
laid him in a wood, between Juterboch andTre- 
blin, fell upon him, gave him a sound drubbing, 
and carried off his chest of money. Tetzel cla- 
moured against this act of violence, and brought 
an action before the judges. But the gentle- 
man produced his indulgence, signed by Tetzel 
himself, which exempted him beforehand from 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 99 

all responsibility; and by this means he was 
acquitted. 

By this abominable traffic, the minds of the 
people were greatly agitated, and the subject 
was everywhere discussed. Opinions were • 
divided, some believing and others disbelieving; 
but by the sober part of the German nation, 
the whole system of indulgences was rejected 
with disgust. The doctrine was so entirely 
opposed to Scripture and to sound sense, that 
all men, who had any knowledge of the Bible, 
or any natural acuteness, could not but con- 
demn it, and only waited for a favourable op- 
portunity to express their opposition. Some 
turned it into an invincible argument against 
the benevolence or charity of the pope. " Why," 
said they, " does not his holiness deliver at 
once all the souls from purgatory, by a holy 
charity, and on account of the dreadful misery 
of those souls, since he is able to free so great 
a number, for the sake of perishable gain?" 

A poor miner of Schneeberg, meeting a seller 
of indulgences, inquired, " Must we then be- 
lieve, what you have often said, that we can 
redeem a soul from purgatory, by casting a 
penny into the chest?" The seller affirmed 



100 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

that it was even so. '' Ah," replied the miner, 
** wliat a cruel man the pope must be, thus to 
leave a poor soul to suffer so long for a wretched 
penny ! If he has no ready money, let him 
collect a few thousand crowns, and deliver all 
these souls at once." 

As remarked above, the people of Germany 
were thoroughly weary of this shameful traffic. 
They could no longer endure the impositions 
of what Luther calls these Romish tricksters. 
Yet no bishop or divine dared to lift a finger in 
opposition to their quackery and deceit. The 
minds of men were in suspense and trouble. 
They were waiting to see if God would not 
raise up some powerful instrument for the work 
that was required to be done. But as yet, such 
an one was nowhere visible. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 101 



CHAPTER IV. 

Luther refuses absolution on the ground of indulgences 
— Tetzel's anger—Luther preaches on the subject- 
Publishes his theses on indulgences — The elector's 
dream — Rapid circulation of the theses — Effects on 
different minds — Attacked by Tetzel and the Domi- 
nicans — Tetzel's antitheses burned at Wittemberg — ■ 
Controversy with Prierias — With Hochstraten — With 
Dr. Eck — Luther's labours as preacher and teacher — 
His journey to Heidelberg — His dispute there on law 
and grace — Martin Bucer converted — Luther returns 
to Wittemberg. 

Luther first heard of the traffic of Tetzel 
in the year 1516, while he was on his tour of 
visitation to the convents. Some of the extra- 
vagant expressions of Tetzel being reported to 
him, he was indignant, and exclaimed, " God 
willing, I will make a hole in his drum." 

Owing to the influence of Staupitz and the 
wisdom of the elector, Tetzel was forbidden 
to preach up his indulgences in Saxony. But 
he approached as near to the confines of Sax- 
ony as he could. He set up his red cross at 
Juterboch, which was only four miles from 
9* 



102 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

AVittemberg, and proclaimed, in the strongest 
terms, the value of his merchandise. The peo- 
ple flocked in crowds from Wittemberg to the 
indulgence market at Juterboch. 

Luther, at this period, had the utmost respect 
for the pope and the church. "I was," says 
he, '' a monk and a papist, so infatuated and 
and even steeped in the Romish doctrines, that 
I could willingly have helped to kill any per- 
son who should have dared to refuse the 
smallest act of obedience to the pope." Still, 
he was zealous for those holy truths which he 
had learned from the Scriptures, and which had 
proved the means of salvation to his soul. '* I 
was a young doctor," says he again, " fresli 
from the anvil, glowing and rejoicing in the 
glory of the Lord." 

Luther was one day at the confessional in 
Wittemberg, when several of the people of the 
town presented themselves before him for ab- 
solution. They confessed themselves guilty 
of great irregularities, such as adultery, licen- 
tiousness, unjust gains, &c., and declared their 
purpose of persisting in these practices ; and 
yet they claimed absolution. And when ques- 
tioned as to the ground of such a claim, they 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 103 

appealed to their letters of indulgence. But 
Luther told them that he should pay no regard 
to their papers, and assured them, that unless 
they turned from the evil of their way, 
they must all perish. They professed to be 
greatly surprised at this, and renewed their ap- 
plication. But Luther was immovable. They 
must "cease to do evil, and learn to do well," 
or no absolution. These people now returned 
immediately to Tetzel, and told him that a 
monk at Wittemberg treated his letters with 
contempt. At this Tetzel literally bellowed 
with anger. He preached on the subject, using 
the most insulting expressions and terrific 
anathemas. To strike the people with the 
more terror, he kindled a fire several times in 
the grand square, pretending that he had orders 
from the pope to burn the heretics who should 
dare oppose his most holy indulgences. 

Luther also preached on the subject, setting 
forth the freeness of the gospel salvation, and 
the utter inefficacy of all human endeavours to 
purchase or merit the forgiveness of sin. He 
earnestly dissuaded his hearers from having 
any thing to do with papal indulgences, or plac- 
ing the least reliance upon them. **And if 



104 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

some cry," said he, *' that I am a heretic, be- 
cause the truth which I preach is prejudicial 
to their coffers, I pay little regard to such 
clamours. They proceed from men who have 
never read the Christian doctrine, or understood 
their own teachers, or felt the truths of the 
Bible, but are perishing in the tattered rags of 
their vain opinions." This sermon was print- 
ed, and made a deep impression on all who 
read it. Tetzel replied to it, and Luther re- 
joined ; but this was done at a later period. 

Notwithstanding all that Luther had said and 
done, Tetzel still continued his odious traffic, 
and his impious, blasphemous addresses to the 
people. What course shall Luther now pur- 
sue ? Shall he submit, and keep silence ? Or 
shall he speak out in a more public and solemn 
manner than before ? His resolution was soon 
formed. The feast of All Saints was at hand, 
and was expected to be a very important day 
at Wittemberg. On the evening preceding that 
day — the evening of the 31st of October, 1517 
— without giving to any of his friends the least 
intimation of his plan, Luther went boldly to 
church, towards which crowds of pilgrims 
were already flocking, and afiixed to the door 




^/^2?z&, 



IFTHEKS IBKOPOSITIO^S. 

31. Octf.1517. 



T: iOA 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 105 

ninety-five theses, or propositions, in opposition 
to the doctrine of indulgences. In a preamble, 
he declared, that he had written these theses in 
a spirit of charity, and with an earnest desire 
of bringing the truth to light. He also an- 
nounced that he would be prepared, the next 
day, to defend them at the university against 
all opposers. 

It is very evident from these theses them- 
selves, that Luther, at this time, was but par- 
tially enlightened in regard to the evil of indul- 
gences, or the corruptions of that church of 
which he was a member. He had no thought 
of attacking the pope or the church. So far 
from this, he presumed that he should have 
both in his favour, in his attempts to restrain 
the effrontery of the rnonks. 

It is related by Seckendorf, and several 
others, that on the night preceding the posting 
of these theses on the church door, the Elector 
of Saxony had a remarkable dream. He 
dreamed that the Almighty sent a monk to him, 
accompanied by all the saints, who testified in 
his favour, with the request that he would allov,^ 
the monk to write something on the church- 
door at Wittemberg. This request was, of 



106 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

course, granted. Whereupon the monk began 
to write. But the pen that he used was so 
long, that the upper end of it reached even unto 
Rome, wounded the ears of a lion (Leo) that 
was couched there, and shook the triple crown 
on the pope's head. The lion, being disturbed 
with the pen, began to roar with all his might, 
so that the whole city of Rome and all the 
states of the holy empire ran to inquire what 
was the matter. The pope called upon all the 
cardinals and princes to restrain the monk ; and, 
"particularly," relates the elector, ''upon me^ 
because he lived in my country." All the princes 
of the empire were now seen flocking one after 
another to Rome, trying to break the monk's 
pen; but all in vain. The more they tried to 
break it, the stifFer it became. It resisted as if it 
were made of iron. Upon being asked where 
he had obtained his pen, the monk replied, " It 
once belonged to the wing of a goose in Bo- 
hemia.* I received it from one of my old 
school-masters. Its strength lies in its pith, 
which no one can take out of it." " Suddenly," 
says the elector, ''I heard a loud cry; for 

* John Huss was a Bohemian; and Huss, in the Bo- 
hemian dialect, signifies goose. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 107 

from the monk's long pen had issued a great 
many other pens. At this, I awoke, and it was 
daylight." 

Thus much for the dream. The fact is well 
attested, that the elector actually had such a 
dream ; and events soon began to show its 
interpretation. The evening following the 
night of the dream, a monk commenced writing 
on the door of the church in Wittemberg. His 
pen maybe said to have reached to Rome. It 
roused up the lion couching there, and shook 
the tiara on the head of the pope. And the 
greater the efforts made to break this pen, the 
stiffer it became. It produced other similar 
pens ; and the writing went on, and the Refor- 
mation spread in all directions. 

The Reformation had something more sub- 
stantial to rest upon, than dreams or visions. 
But who shall say, that God did not design to 
instruct the good elector in the visions of the 
night? And who can tell how much influence 
this instruction may have had on the mind of 
the elector, to prevent him from prematurely 
opposing and crushing the infant Reformation ? 

The day following the placarding of the 
theses, no one appeared at the university to 



108 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

impugn them. The traffic of Tetzel was so 
utterly disreputable, that no one, except him- 
self or some one of his followers, could be ex- 
pected to accept the challenge. Nevertheless, 
the theses spread with the rapidity of lightning. 
It seemed as if the angels themselves had been 
the bearers of them. In the space of a fort- 
night, they were read all over Germany; and 
within a month, they ran through Christ- 
endom, and penetrated even to Rome. They 
were translated into Dutch and Spanish, and 
some of them were carried as far as Jerusalem. 
** Every one," said Luther, *' was complaining 
of the indulgences ; and as all the bishops kept 
silence, and no one was inclined to take the 
bull by the horns, poor Luther became a famous 
doctor ; because, at last, said they, one has 
been found who dares to grapple with him. 
But I did not like all this glory. The song 
was set on too high a key for my voice.'' 

To form an idea of the various and pro- 
digious effects which the theses produced in 
Germany, we must in imagination follow them 
wherever they penetrated ; into the palaces of 
princes, the cells of the monks, the studies of the 
learned, and the cottages of the common people. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 109 

The venerable Reuchlin received a copy of 
them ; and the strength and courage vt^hich 
they evinced cheered the depressed spirits of 
the old champion of letters, and gave new joy 
to his drooping heart. '' Thanks be to God," 
he exclaimed, " the monks have now found a 
man who will give tliem so much to do, that 
they will be glad to leave my old age to pass 
away in peace." Erasmus received a copy of 
them, and secretly rejoiced to see his desire 
for the reform of abuses, so courageously ex- 
pressed. ''God has sent a physician," said 
he, " who eats into the flesh ; because with- 
out such an one, the disorder would become 
incurable." The pious Bishop of Wurtzburg 
received and read the theses with joy, and im- 
mediately wrote to the Elector Frederic, advis- 
ing him to retain and protect Luther. The 
Emperor Maximilian, who was then living, 
was not displeased with the doctrine of the 
theses. He, too, wrote a letter to the elector, 
advising him to take care of and protect Lu- 
ther. "The time may come," said he, "when 
we shall have need of him." Even Leo X. at 
first regarded the theses more as a friend of 
learning and genius, than as a pope ; and when 
10 



110 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

he was urged to proceed against Luther as a 
heretic, he repUed, ''This Martin Luther is a 
man of talents, and all that is said against him 
is mere monkish jealousy." 

The different orders of monks seem to have 
been variously affected by the bold propositions 
of Luther. The more pious among them re- 
joiced and thanked God; while those who 
sought in monastic seclusion a life of indolence 
and indulgence, or the reverence of their fellow- 
men, heaped reproaches on the reformer's name. 
The common people generally, who under- 
stood little of the theological question, and only 
knew that Luther protested against the extor- 
tions of the monks and friars, received the 
news of his proceedings witli great joy. 

But while some opposed and others rejoiced, 
a third class viewed the matter with trembling 
apprehension. Among this number was the 
Elector Frederic. Cautious and prudent from 
his very nature, he saw with consternation what 
tumults and contentions this little fire might 
kindle ; and he gave repeated intimations to 
Luther of his uneasiness on the subject. 

The celebrated historian, Albert Kranz, was 
lying on his death-bed when the theses were 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. Ill 

brought to him. " Thou hast truth on thy 
side," said he, " brother Martin ; but thou 
wilt not succeed. Poor monk ! Get thee to 
thy cell, and cry, God, have mercy on me !" 
Even Luther himself, after the first acclama- 
tions were over, and he found himself alone 
in the church, with the terrible power of Rome 
against him, could not help feeling dejected and 
dismayed. Doubts, which he thought he had 
overcome, returned upon him with new force. 
For him, a poor, single-handed, contemptible 
monk, to resist that voice which nations and 
ages had humbly obeyed, and oppose himself 
to that church which he had been accustomed 
from his infancy to revere — it was too much. 
No subsequent step cost him so much as 
this ; and this it was which decided the fate 
of the Reformation. *'I began this affair," 
says Luther, "with much fear and trembling. 
What was I at that time ? A poor, wretched, 
contemptible friar — more like a corpse than a 
man ! Who was I, to oppose the pope's ma- 
jesty, before which not only the kings of the 
earth and the whole world trembled, but (if I 
may so speak) heaven and hell were eon- 
strained to obey the slightest intimations of his 



112 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

will. No one can know what I suffered at the 
first, and in what dejection and despair I was 
often plunged." But God raised up some 
powerful friends to the reformer, at this period 
of trial, by whom he was comforted and en- 
couraged. Among these was Spalatin, who 
has been before mentioned as private secretary, 
chaplain and counsellor to the elector. Another 
was Scheurl, the town-clerk of Nuremburg ; 
and still another was Albert Durer, a celebrated 
German painter. 

But Luther's courage was aroused, not so 
much by the countenance of friends, as by the 
indiscreet and violent opposition of enemies. 
Tetzel and the Dominicans, eager to crush the 
audacious monk, who had disturbed their traf- 
fic, and to conciliate the favour of the Roman 
pontiff, raised at once a shout of indignation ; 
affirmed that to attack indulgences was to attack 
the pope himself; and summoned to their assist- 
ance all the monks and divines of their school. 

About a month after the publication of Lu- 
ther's theses, Tetzel left the vicinity of Wit- 
temberg, and repaired to the university of 
Frankfort on the Oder ; where, by the help 
of Wimpina, one of the professors, he pre- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 113 

pared two series of anti-theses — the first in 
defence of the doctrine of indulgences, and the 
second of the papal authority ; and appointed 
the 20th of January, 1518, as the time for a 
public disputation. 

When the day arrived, a large company as- 
sembled to be present at the dispute, particu- 
larly the monks from the neighbouring clois- 
ters. Tetzel read to them his theses, in which 
he repeated all that he had advanced before in 
respect to the value and efficacy of indulgences ; 
and in which he extended the prerogatives 
and exalted the powers of the Roman pontiff 
in terms the most unmeasured and extravagant. 
His object in this was two-fold : First, that he 
might himself retreat, with all his disorders 
and scandals, under the cover of the pope's 
mantle ; and second, that he might draw his 
opponent into direct and open conflict with 
Rome. 

The monks assembled on this occasion were 
full of admiration of all that Tetzel had said ; 
and the divines of the university were too much 
afraid of the suspicion of heresy to make any 
open opposition. There would have been, there- 
fore, no dispute at all, had it not been for the 
10* 



114 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

boldness and faithfulness of one of the stu- 
dents, a young man about twenty years of age. 
Indignant at seeing the truth publicly trampled 
under foot, without any one offering himself 
in its defence, this excellent young man raised 
his voice, to the great surprise of the whole 
assembly, and to the utter dismay of the auda- 
cious Tetzel. This proud Dominican soon 
retreated from the contest, and left it in the 
hands of Doctor Wimpina, the individual who 
had assisted in preparing the theses. And he 
found himself so hard pressed by the student, 
that his only resort was to put an end to the 
discussion. Wimpina immediately promoted 
Tetzel to the rank of doctor, and sent away 
the troublesome student to a convent in Pome- 
rania. 

But Doctor Tetzel was not satisfied with the 
glory already received. He set up a pulpit 
and scaffold in one of the suburbs of Frank- 
fort, from which he inveighed in the most furi- 
ous manner, declaring that '^ the heretic, Luther, 
ought to be burned alive." Then placing the 
sermon of Luther, in opposition to indulgences, 
and also his theses, on the scaffold, he set fire 
to them and consumed them. He showed 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 115 

greater dexterity in this operation than he did 
in the dispute. There was none here to oppose 
him, and his victory was complete. The fire 
having done its office, the arrogant Dominican 
re-entered Frankfort in triumph. 

These proceedings at Frankfort were but a 
signal to the whole company of Romish doc- 
tors. A shout was raised against Luther by 
the monks, and reproaches upon his name were 
sounded forth from all the Dominican pulpits. 
They called him a madman, a seducer, a 
wretch possessed with the devil. His teaching 
was decried as the most horrible of all here- 
sies. " Wait only a fortnight," they said, " or 
at most a month, and that notorious heretic will 
be burned alive." 

When Luther saw what course things were 
taking, his courage rose. He saw that it was 
necessary to face such adversaries boldly, and 
his intrepid spirit determined to do it. He 
did not, however, give way to those emotions 
of pride, which are so congenial to man's 
heart. " I have more difficulty," wrote he to 
Spalatin at this time, " to refrain from despising 
my adversaries, and so sinning against Christ, 
than I should have in vanquishing them. They 



116 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

are so ignorant, both of human and divme 
things, that it is humbling to have any contro- 
versy with them ; and yet it is their very igno- 
rance which gives them their inconceivable 
boldness and their brazen front." 

Tetzel, after his auto-da-fe at Frankfort, 
hastened to send his theses into Saxony. They 
will serve, thought he, as an antidote to those 
of Luther. A messenger was despatched with 
a large bundle of them, to be distributed at 
Wittemberg. But the students prevented the 
intended distribution. They purchased a part 
of the bundle and seized on the remainder, and 
without consulting the authorities either of the 
town or the university, kindled a fire in the 
market-place and consumed them to ashes. 
One copy only escaped the flames, and this 
was placed in the hands of the reformer. 

Luther, so far from being accessary to this 
act, as many supposed, was deeply grieved at 
it. '* I am surprised," wrote he to one of his 
friends, '' that you could think I had any thing 
to do with the burning of Tetzel's theses. Do 
you think I have utterly lost my senses? But 
what can I do? When a tale is told of me, 
any thing, and from every quarter, gains impli- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 117 

cit confidence. Can I tie up men's tongues ? 
No matter ; let them tell, and hear, and report 
what they please. I will go on, so long as 
the Lord shall give me strength ; and with 
God's help, I will fear nothing." 

The Bishop of Brandenburg, who was Lu- 
ther's ordinary, was grieved at seeing so import- 
ant a controversy originating in his own diocess, 
and wished to stifle it. He first wrote to Lu- 
ther, professing not to disapprove the doctrine 
of his theses, but desiring him, for the love of 
peace, and out of regard to his bishop, to say 
no more on the subject. After the proceedings 
at Frankfort, the bishop thought it necessary 
to come himself to Wittemberg. But finding 
Luther animated by that inward joy which 
springs from a good conscience, and resolved 
upon replying to his adversaries, the bishop 
returned in an angry mood to Brandenburg. 
From this time, he became more hostile to 
Luther, and sought his destruction. It was in 
the winter of 1518, while seated at his fireside, 
that the bishop said to those around him, " I 
will not lay down my head in peace, until I 
have cast Martin, like this fagot, into the 
fire ;" at the same time casting down a fagot 



118 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

upon the blazing hearth. But in face of all his 
enemies, Martin was preserved from the fire, 
and lived to accomplish a reformation of which 
prelates and princes were unworthy. 

A new antagonist now took the field against 
Luther, not in Germany, but at Rome. Leo 
X. still affected to treat the whole matter with 
the utmost contempt. " A squabble among 
the monks !" said he. '* The best way is to 
take no notice of it." On another occasion 
he said, "It is a drunken German that has 
written these theses. When he is sober, he will 
talk very differently. " The new antagonist 
of which we speak was Sylvester Prierias, 
master of the pontifical palace, and Prior-gene- 
ral of the Dominicans, He published a work, 
which he dedicated to Leo X., in which he 
spoke in the most contemptuous manner of the 
German monk, affirming that, '' since it is the 
nature of dogs to bite, he believed that Luther 
must have had a dog for his father;" and in- 
quiring whether he had indeed " an iron snout, 
and a head of brass, which it would be impos- 
sible to shatter." The point in controversy 
between Prierias and Luther was that respect- 
ing the rule of faith and life to the Christian ; 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 119 

the former declaring it to be the pope and the 
church ; the latter that it was the sacred Scrip- 
tures, as opened and applied to the believer by 
the Holy Spirit. Prierias laid it down as an 
axiom : " Whosoever does not rely on the 
teaching of the Roman church, and the Roman 
pontiff, as the infallible rule of faith, and as that 
from which the Scriptures themselves derive 
their obligation and authority, is a heretic." 
But Luther refused to admit the axiom, affirm- 
ing that both popes and councils might err, and 
often had erred, and saying, in the language of 
St. Augustine, " I have learned to render to the 
inspired Scriptures alone the homage of a firm 
belief." 

The question here discussed between Prie- 
rias and Luther is obviously a fundamental one 
in every controversy with the Romanists. 
Grant them their rule of faith, and we shall be 
likely to grant them all the rest. But standing 
firmly on the great principle of the Reforma- 
tion — that which Luther had so thoroughly 
learned, and which he was led thus early in 
the controversy to establish — that the Bible 
and the Bible alone is the standard for Chris- 
tians ; and the missiles of popery can never 



120 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

harm us. It is certain that popery has no 
foundation in the Bible. 

Towards the conclusion of his work, Prie- 
rias adverts to the ultima ratio of the Roman- 
ists, and shows the cruel teeth of an inquisitor. 
" The Roman church," says he, " the supre- 
macy of whose power, spiritual and temporal, 
is vested in the pope, can restrain, by the secu- 
lar arm, those who, having first received the 
faith, afterwards depart from it. The church 
is under no obligation to employ argument to 
combat and overcome rebels." To this Luther 
replies, " Do you thirst for my hlood then ? I 
protest to you, that this bluster and menace of 
yours give me not the slightest alarm. For 
what if I were to lose my life ? Christ still 
lives ; Christ my Lord, and the Lord of all, 
blessed forever, Amen." 

Scarcely was this controversy disposed of, 
before another Dominican took the field. It 
was James Hochstraten, the inquisitor of Co- 
logne. He can hardly be said to have lost his 
temper in the contest, for he was quite out of 
temper when he commenced it. In place of 
argument, he satisfied himself with crying aloud 
for blood. **It is high treason against the 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 121 

church to suffer such a horrid heretic to live an 
hour longer. Away with him at once to the 
scaffold." Luther answered Hochstraten in 
few words, but with much vigour. " Out upon 
thee, thou senseless murderer, thirsting for thy 
brother's blood ! I sincerely desire that thou 
shouldst not call me Christian and faithful. On 
the contrary, continue to decry me as a heretico 
God knows what my purpose is, if my life 
should be spared. He will take care that my 
expectation shall not be disappointed." 

Another attack, more trying to the feelings 
of Luther than either of the preceding, soon 
awaited him. It came from Doctor Eck, a 
celebrated professor at Ingolstadt, between 
whom and Luther there had before subsisted 
an intimate friendship. Eck was a doctor of 
the schools, not of the Bible. He was deeply 
versed in scholastic divinity, but not in the 
word of God. His performance, which he 
called *' Obelisks," was characterized by much 
learning and subtilty, and by a pretended com- 
passion for his " feeble adversary," through 
which a deeply disguised malice was distinctly 
visible. It was this latter quality of *'the 
Obelisks" which roused the indignation of 
11 



122 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Luther. Still, he was grieved at the thought 
that the blow had come from an old friend. 
'' Can it be," thought he, " that the truth must 
be defended at such an expense — with the loss 
of the affection of former friends ?" 

But though the heart of Luther was wounded, 
his courage was not at all abated. So far from 
this, he seemed to kindle with fresh ardour for 
the contest. ''Rejoice," said he to one of his 
friends, who had in like manner been attacked 
by a violent adversary — " rejoice, and let not 
these paper missiles terrify you. The more 
furious my adversaries become, the more I ad- 
vance upon them. I leave the things that are 
behind for them to bark at, and stretch forward 
to those before, that they may bark at these 
also in their turn." 

His reply to " the Obelisks" Luther denomi- 
nated, in an equally fantastical title, " the As- 
terisks." It is a work full of life and energy, 
in which he shows that, in the performance of 
Eck, there is nought of the Scriptures, or of 
the fathers of the church, or of the ecclesias- 
tical canons, but only the glosses of the schools, 
opinions, mere opinions, and dreams. He af- 
firms that '' the sovereign pontiff is a man, and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 128 

may be led into error ; but that God is truth 
itself, and cannot err." " As it would be an 
act of audacity," says he, " for any one to 
teach, as the philosophy of Aristotle, what can- 
not be proved on Aristotle's authority, much 
more audacious is it to affirm in the church 
what cannot be proved on the authority of 
Christ. And yet, where we do find in the Bible, 
that the treasure of Christ's merits is confided 
to the pope ?" 

Some of the mutual friends of Eck and of 
Luther endeavoured tf) heal the breach which 
this controversy had occasioned, and to restore 
their broken friendship ; but it was too late. 
The distance between them grew wider and 
wider. Luther could yield nothing of what he 
regarded as essential truth, while the pride of 
Eck and his implacable temper led him rather 
to rise in his demands, than to make any abate- 
ment. 

While engaged in these various controver- 
sies, sufficient, one would think, to engross the 
heart and occupy the whole time of Luther, he 
was still busy as ever in imparting instruction 
to his pupils, and in preaching and publishing 
for the benefit of the common people. It was 



124 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

at this time that he published his sermons 
on the ten commandments, which had been 
preached two years before in the church of 
Wittemberg. He also published an excellent 
treatise on the Lord's prayer, for the benefit, 
specially, of the unlearned laity. His fame as 
a public teacher and preacher of the gospel 
continually increased. The crowds which hung 
upon his lips in the church were greater than 
ever. He preached, about this time, his cele- 
brated sermon on repentance and forgiveness ; 
in which he distinguishes between that abso- 
lution from church censures which the priest 
msy pronounce, and that inward pardon which 
can come only from the Lord. "The first 
reconciles the offender with the church ; but it 
is the second, which is the heavenly grace, 
that reconciles the soul to God. If a man does 
not find in himself that peace of conscience, 
that joy of heart, which springs from God's 
remission of sin, there is no indulgence that 
can help him, though he should buy all that 
had ever been offered on earth. The remission 
of sins," in this internal and more important 
sense, " is out of the power of pope, bishop, 
priest, or any man living, and rests solely on 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 125 

the word of Christ, and on thine own faith. 
For Christ did not design that our comfort, our 
hope and our salvation should be built on a 
word or work of man, but solely on himself 
and on his word." These truths seem plain 
and familiar to us now, but when Luther first 
announced them in Germany, they were sur- 
prising truths. The people had so long been 
accustomed to regard the priest as standing be- 
tween them and God — to confess to him, and 
receive absolution from him, that when his 
mediation was removed, and they were directed 
to look to God alone for forgiveness, in the ex- 
ercise of repentance and faith, the preacher was 
thought to bring strange things to their ears. 

In the spring of the year 1518 the order of 
the Augustinians held a general meeting at 
Heidelberg ; and Luther, as being one of the 
most distinguished men of his order, was sum- 
moned to attend. His friends, sensible of the ex- 
treme danger to which the journey must expose 
him, endeavoured to dissuade him from under- 
taking it ; but in vain. Luther never allowed 
himself to be stopped short, in the performance 
of what he conceived to be his duty, by the fear 
of danger. Accordingly, having made the 
11* 



126 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

necessary preparation, he set out on foot about 
the middle of April. He encountered neither 
danger nor difficulty, except that, before his 
journey was half accomplished, he found him- 
self quite overcome with fatigue. From Co- 
burg he wrote back to his friends, " All goes 
well, by God's favour, only I must acknow- 
ledge myself to have sinned in undertaking this 
journey on foot. But I have no need of any 
indulgence on account of the sin, for my con- 
trition is perfect and the satisfaction plenary. 
I am exhausted with fatigue and all the convey- 
ances are full. Is not this enough, and more 
than enough, of penance, contrition and satis- 
faction ?" At Wurtzburg he met his friend, the 
Vicar-general Staupitz, and had a seat in his 
carriage for the remainder of the journey. 

During his stay at Heidelberg, Luther re- 
ceived all the attention and kindness he could 
desire. He was invited repeatedly to the castle 
and table of the count palatine, Duke of Ba- 
varia, who had his residence in this city. But 
he was not satisfied with mere personal atten- 
tion and enjoyment. He desired that his visit 
might be one of usefulness. Accordingly he 
drew up theses, and proposed a public dispu- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 127 

tation on his favourite topics of law and grace. 
That he might excite the more attention and 
interest, he made his theses little other than a 
string of paradoxes. The following may be 
regarded as a specimen : 

'* The law of God is a salutary rule of life ; 
yet it cannot help man in the obtaining of right- 
eousness ; but, on the contrary, impedes him." 

" The works of man, let them be fair and 
good as they may, are yet nothing but mortal 
sins." 

" The works of the righteous would be 
mortal sins, if from a holy reverence for God 
they did not fear that they might be mortal 
sins." 

"The law saith, Bo this ; but what it en- 
joins is never done. Grace saith. Believe in 
him ; and immediately all is perfected." 

The discussion was held on the 26th of 
April, in presence of a numerous auditory. 
Attracted by the reputation of Luther, profes- 
sors, courtiers, burghers, students came toge- 
ther in crowds to hear him. The theses were 
opposed, courteously yet earnestly, by five 
doctors of divinity. Luther, on his part, ex- 
hibited unusual mildness and patience ; kindly 



128 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

listened to all the objections of his opponents ; 
and by his explanations and arguments, was 
highly successful in removing them. The 
discussion evidently was productive of much 
good. Several young men, among whom was 
the celebrated Martin Bucer, afterwards a 
burning and shining light in the Reformation, 
were brought at this time to the knowledge of 
the truth. Indeed, a work was commenced at 
Heidelberg which did not stop until it had per- 
vaded the city. 

The object of his visit being accomplished, 
Luther prepared to return to Wittemberg. But 
he was not permitted to return on foot. His 
Augustinian brethren, proud of his fame, and 
regarding him as an ornament to their order, 
seemed to vie one with another in their endea- 
vours to help him onwards to his home. He 
returned by the way of Erfurth and Eisleben — 
the former the place of his education, and the 
latter of his birth — and arrived at Wittemberg 
towards the end of May. His heahh and spi- 
rits were both improved by the journey, and 
he came back better prepared than ever for the 
severe labours and trials that awaited him. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 129 



CHAPTER V. 

Luther's explanations on the subject of indulgences-^ 
His letter to Pope Leo X.-— Luther summoned to 
Rome — The pope consents that he shall be tried be- 
fore Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg — Is secretly con- 
demned at Rome, before the time for his trial — Luther 
sets out on foot for Augsburg — Arrives there — Inter- 
view with Serra Longa — Receives a safe-conduct from 
the emperor — First interview with Cajetan — Second 
interview — Third interview — Luther celebrates the 
Lord's supper with his friends — Appeals to the pope 
when better informed — Leaves Augsburg — Returns to 
Wittemberg. 

In the summer of 1518, after his return 
from Heidelberg, Luther took up afresh his 
theses on indulgences. In his own judgment, 
some parts of them needed explaining and 
softening. They had excited needless oppo- 
sition from being imperfectly understood. 
While on other points his feelings now con- 
strained him to make advances, and to be more 
full and explicit than he had previously been. 
He published, therefore, what he called his 
'* Solutions :" a work prepared with much 



130 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

care and moderation, but in which he courage- 
ously defended every proposition which truth 
obliged him to maintain. He insisted, as be- 
fore, " that every Christian who truly repents 
of his sins receives forgiveness without any in- 
dulgence ; that the pope has no more power than 
the lowest priest to do more than simply to 
declare the forgiveness which God has already 
granted ; that the treasury of merits administered 
by the pope is a pure fiction ; and that the Holy 
Scriptures are the sole rule of faith." He repre- 
sents repentance as the putting on of "a new 
and heavenly spirit," and " not those outward 
penances which the haughtiest sinner may per- 
form without any real humiliation." He de- 
scribes the popes as men, like other men, who 
not only may err, but very often have erred 
and sinned egregiously. "On any other 
ground," says he, " might I not be required to 
say, that the horrible wars and massacres of 
Julius n. were the good deeds of a kind shep- 
herd of the Lord's sheep?" At the same 
time he speaks honourably of Leo X., of whose 
true character he was yet comparatively igno- 
rant. " We have a very good pope in Leo X. 
His sincerity and learning are matter of joy to 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 131 

US, But what can he do alone, amiable and 
gracious as he is ? He ought assuredly to have 
been elected in better times. In these days 
we deserve none but such as Julius II. or 
Alexander VI." 

At the same time that Luther published this 
work for the benefit of his countrymen, he sent 
copies of it, with courteous and submissive 
letters, to his ordinary, the Bishop of Branden- 
burg, and also to Leo X. In his letter to the 
pope he explains fully how he became involved 
in this dispute about indulgences, and why he 
feels constrained to continue it. ''I call all 
Germany to witness," says he, " that nothing 
was heard in all the taverns but complaints of 
the avarice of the priests, and attacks on the 
power of the keys and of the supreme bishop." 
Such were the effects of the preaching of in- 
dulgences. " When I heard these things, my 
zeal was aroused for the glory of Christ; or 
(if another construction is to be put upon my 
conduct) my young and warm blood was in- 
flamed. I represented the matter to certain 
princes of the church ; but some laughed at 
me, and others turned a deaf ear. The awe 
of your name seemed to have made all mo- 



132 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION.' 

tionless. Thereupon I published this dispute. " 
" And now what am I to do ? I cannot retract 
what I have said ; and I see that this publica- 
tion draws down upon me, from all sides, an 
inexpressible hatred. I have no wish to appear 
in the great world ; for I am unlearned, of small 
wit, and far too inconsiderable for such great 
matters, — more especially in this illustrious 
age, when Cicero himself, if he were living, 
would be constrained to hide himself in some 
dark corner." 

Luther has sometimes been accused of hav- 
ing broken the unity of the Western church, 
and of being involved in the sin of schism. 
But it is evident from the foregoing transac- 
tions, and from others which will follow, that 
he intended no schism. He wished, if pos- 
sible, to avoid it. He saw the need of a 
reformation, but he wished it to proceed from 
the highest authority in the church. It was 
his adversaries, who opposed and blasphemed 
the truth, and would not admit the sufficiency 
of Christ's salvation, who were the authors of 
the schism c On them rests the responsibility 
of rending the Lord's vesture, at the foot of 
his cross. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 133 

But while Luther was endeavouring, if pos- 
sible, to win the confidence of Rome, Rome 
had no other thoughts but those of vengeance 
against him. One of the cardinals had already- 
written to the Elector of Saxony, exhorting 
him to withdraw his protection from Luther, 
and intimating that some suspicion would rest 
on himself, should he refuse. The Elector 
had always prided himself on his attachment 
to the religion of his fathers. Still, he loved 
and sought the truth ; and he knew that this 
was not always found on the side of the 
strongest. He had arrived also at the convic- 
tion, that one might be a Christian prince, and 
not be a slave of the pope. He replied, there- 
fore, to the cardinal, that it had ever been his 
desire to prove his submission to the universal 
church, and that he had never defended the 
writings and discourses of Dr. Martin Luther. 
*'I hear, however," says he, "that Luther has 
uniformly expressed his willingness to appear, 
under a safe-conduct, before learned, Christian 
and impartial judges, to defend his doctrine, 
and to submit to their decision, if they should 
be able, by the Scriptures, to convict him of 
error." At the same time with this letter, or a 
12 



134 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

little previous, the Emperor Maximilian also 
wrote to the pope, exhorting him to take mea- 
sures against Luther, and pledging himself to 
enforce, throughout the empire, whatever his 
holiness should decree on the subject. 

On the reception of these letters, the pope 
immediately instituted an ecclesiastical court at 
Rome, for the purpose of trying Luther ; and 
appointed his great adversary, Prierias, to be 
both his accuser and his judge. The prelimi- 
naries were soon arranged ; and Luther was 
summoned to appear, in person, before this 
bloody tribunal, within sixty days. 

Luther was at Wittemberg, awaiting the 
good effects which he imagined his submissive 
letter to the pope was calculated to produce, 
when he received the summons to appear at 
Rome. *«At the moment," says he, " that I 
looked for benediction, I saw the thunderbolt 
descend upon me. I was like the lamb that 
troubled the stream at which the wolf was 
drinking. Tetzel escaped, and I was to be 
devoured." 

This summons threw all Wittemberg into 
consternation ; because, whatever course Lu- 
ther might take, his destruction seemed inevi- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 135 

table. If he obeyed the summons and went 
to Rome, he would assuredly become the vic- 
tim of his enemies ; and if he refused to obey 
the summons, he would, as usual, be con- 
demned for contumacy, and the German 
princes would not protect him. His friends 
were excessively alarmed. " Shall the preacher 
of righteousness go and risk his life in that 
great city, already drunk with the blood of the 
saints and of the martyrs of Jesus ? Shall 
every one who dares to lift his head in the 
midst of the enslaved nations of Christendom 
be, on tliat account, struck down ? Shall this 
man be trampled under foot, who seemed 
formed to resist a power which nothing before 
had been able to withstand?" 

On the 8th of August, Luther wrote to 
Spalatin, requesting that he would use his 
influence with the elector to have his cause 
tried in Germany. At the same time, the 
members of the University of Wittemberg 
addressed an intercessory letter to the pope 
himself. They declared it impossible for 
Luther, in his present state of health and cir- 
cumstances, to appear at Rome ; and humbly 



136 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

besought his holiness to allow him to be heard 
in some more convenient place. 

This matter was arranged with less difficulty 
than might have been anticipated. The pope 
had already a legate in Germany, Cardinal De 
Vio, commonly called Cajetan, from the town 
of Gaeta, where he was born. He was a 
Dominican and a schoolman, and likely, on 
both these accounts, to regard Luther with 
any thing but impartiality. Still, he would 
be the more sure to execute the work expected 
of him, and fulfil the cruel designs of Rome. 
The cause of Luther was transferred from 
Rome to Augsburg, in Germany, and Cajetan 
was authorized to try and decide it. And yet 
there was properly to be no trial ; for Luther 
had already been condemned as a heretic at 
Rome, and that, too, long before his sixty days 
of respite had expired. His summons to ap- 
pear at Rome for trial within sixty days was 
dated the 7th of August ; thus giving him till 
the 7th of October to make preparations and 
to accomplish the journey. But it soon ap- 
peared that, before the end of August, he had 
actually been tried at Rome by the Bishop of 
Asculan, and pronounced a heretic. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 137 

When this fact came to the knowledge of 
Luther, he could not repress his indignation. 
'' Is this the style and manner of the Roman 
court," said he, " that in the same time that 
she summons and exhorts, she also accuses, 
judges, condemns and declares guilty ; and 
this, too, in the case of one who is at such a 
distance from Rome, and who can have no 
knowledge of what is going on ? What answer 
can they make to all this ?" 

The pope's brief to Cajetan, commissioning 
him to act in the case of Luther, was dated the 
23d of August, and proceeds as follows : " We 
charge you to compel the aforesaid Luther to 
appear before you in person, and to prosecute 
and reduce him to submission without delay, 
he having been already declared a heretic, by 
our dear brother Jerome, Bishop of iVsculan. 
For this purpose invoke the power and assist- 
ance of our very dear son in Christ, Maximi- 
lian, and the other princes of Germany, and 
of all the communities, universities and po- 
tentates, whether ecclesiastical or secular. And 
when you have secured his person, cause him 
to be detained in safe custody, that he may 
be brought before us." Thus we see that the 
12* 



138 MORNING OF THE REFORMATIONc 

pope was still intent on dragging Luther to 
Rome. 

His holiness proceeds to instruct his legate 
to forgive and restore Luther, in case he re- 
tracts ; but «* if he persist in stubbornness, and 
you fail to get possession of his person, we 
give you power to proscribe him in all places 
in Germany ; and to put away, curse and ex- 
communicate all those v/ho are attached to 
him ; and to enjoin all Christians to shun his 
society." And as though this were not enough, 
the pope further directs his legate to " excom- 
municate all prelates, religious orders, uni- 
versities, communities, counts, dukes and po- 
tentates (the emperor only excepted) who shall 
neglect to seize the said Martin Luther and his 
adherents, and send them to you under proper 
and safe custody." *' As to the laity," con- 
tinues his holiness, " if they do not, without 
any delay or demur, obey your orders, we de- 
clare them reprobate, unable to perform any 
lawful act, disentitled to Christian burial, and 
deprived of all possessions which they may 
hold, either from the apostolic see, or from any 
lord whatever." 
Such, then, was the trial and the treatment that 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 139 

awaited Luther. The Romish despot had pre- 
pared every thing to crush him. He had set 
every engine at work, so that his ruin seemed 
inevitable. 

And while the pope was thus arming the 
legate with his thunders, he was endeavouring, 
by soft and soothing speeches, to gain the con- 
currence of the Elector of Saxony, so that Lu- 
ther might find no protection with him. He 
wrote the elector a most flattering letter, bear- 
ing the same date with that of his commission 
to Cajetan, with a view to cajole him, if pos- 
sible, into his own designs against the life and 
liberty of the reformer. 

The Elector of Saxony was at this time at 
Augsburg, where he had been attending a diet 
of the empire. Before leaving the city, he 
pledged himself to Cajetan, the pope's legate, 
that Luther should appear before him. He 
directed Spalatin also to write to Luther, in- 
forming him that he was not to be tried in 
Rome ; that the pope had named a commission 
to hear him in Germany ; and that he must 
prepare immediately to set out for Augsburg. 

On receiving this notice, Luther resolved 
at once, and at all hazards, to obey. His 



140 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

friends, with one voice, endeavoured to dis- 
suade him. They feared that a snare might 
be laid for him on his journey, or that some 
design was formed against his life. Some set 
about finding a place of concealment for him. 
His friend Staupitz urged him to retire from 
the world, and to come and reside with him in 
the convent of Salzburg. " Your most pru- 
dent course," says he, ''is to leave Wittem- 
berg, and come and stay with me. Here let us 
live and die together." Count Albert of Mans- 
feldt sent him a message, cautioning him against 
setting out, because some great nobles had 
bound themselves with an oath to seize him 
and then strangle or drown him. But nothing 
could shake the resolution of Luther. He 
would not go and hide himself under the wing 
of the Vicar-general Staupitz, in the convent 
of Salzburg. He preferred rather to continue 
on that stormy stage where the providence 
of God had placed him, and to meet whatever 
might befall him in the faithful discharge of 
duty. The information he had received from 
Count Mansfeldt induced him to ask of his 
prince a safe-conduct ; but Frederic replied that 
this was not necessary, and only sent him 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 141 

some letters of introduction to distinguished 
individuals at Augsburg. He also forwarded 
him money for the journey ; and, thus equip- 
ped, Luther set forward, on foot, to place him- 
self in the power of his adversaries. 

He reached Weimar on the 28th of Sep- 
tember, where the Elector of Saxony was then 
holding his court, and took lodgings in the con- 
vent of the Cordeliers. He was treated here 
with much civility, and invited to preach in 
presence of the court. His case excited a deep 
interest in the convent. On parting, one of the 
monks kindly said to him, " My brother, you 
will have to meet Italians at Augsburg. They 
are a shrewd people, subtle antagonists, and 
will give you enough to do. I fear you will 
not be able to defend your cause against them. 
They will cast you into the fire, and the flames 
will consume you." To which Luther only 
replied, " My dear friend, pray to our Lord 
God who is in heaven, and put up a pater 
noster for me, and for his own dear Son, whose 
cause is mine. If Christ's cause is maintained, 
mine is safe." 

Luther continued his journey on foot, and 
arrived at Nuremburg, where he found several 



142 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

faithful friends. From one of these he bor- 
rowed a monk's frock, in which to appear be- 
fore the legate, as his own was old and much 
the worse for his journey. Two of these 
friends, unwilling that their brother should 
encounter danger alone, resolved to accompany 
him to Augsburg. When they had arrived 
within a few miles of the town, Luther was 
seized with a violent sickness. He thought 
he should die. His two friends were much 
alarmed, and engaged for him a wagon, in 
which he entered Augsburg, October 7th, and 
took lodgings in the convent of the Augusti- 
nians. He here rapidly recovered, and was 
soon able to make preparation for the business 
on which he had come. 

He sent one messenger to inform the legate 
of his arrival, and another to solicit an inter- 
view with his friend Staupitz, who, he had 
understood, was in the city. 

The day following his arrival at Augsburg 
Luther received a visit from an Italian courtier, 
who was in the service of Cajetan, and whose 
name was Serra Longa. He came, as he said, 
of his own accord, out of pure friendship for Lu- 
ther and a sincere love of the church. After the 



•# 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 143 

customary salutations and many professions, he 
entered on the object of his visit as follows : 
**I am come to offer you prudent and good 
advice. Make your peace with the church. 
Submit unreservedly to the cardinal. Retract 
your calumnies. Others have put forth here- 
sies, but have been restored as soon as they 
retracted their errors." Luther intimated his 
intention of standing upon his own defence. 
But answered the Italian hastily, " Beware of 
that. Would you presume to enter the lists 
with the legate of his holiness ?" Luther re- 
plied, " If they can prove to me that I have 
taught any thing contrary to the Romish church, 
I will be my own judge, and will immediately 
retract. But I must first ascertain whether the 
legate relies more on the authority of St. Tho- 
mas than the faith will sanction. If he does, 
I certainly shall not submit to him." Under- 
standing from this that it was Luther's inten- 
tion to have a discussion with the cardinal, the 
Italian began to show temper, and to use the 
most irritating and extravagant language. He 
soon recovered himself, however, and returned 
to his former gentleness, endeavouring to per- 
suade the reformer to submit to the legate and 



144 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

humbly to retract his errors. Luther by this 
time understood the character of his visit- 
ant, and thought it necessary to speak with 
more reserve. He told Serra Longa that he 
was quite ready to be humble and obedient, 
and to give satisfaction in any point in which 
he might be shown to be in error. At these 
words the latter exclaimed exultingiy, '' I will 
go directly to the legate, and you will follow 
me presently. It will soon be settled, and all 
will be well." 

During the absence of Longa, Luther was 
visited by several of the more reputable citi- 
zens of Augsburg, to whom he had brought 
letters of introduction from the Elector of Sax- 
ony. They all manifested the most lively in- 
terest in his welfare, and insisted that he should 
not go into the presence of the legate till they 
had obtained for him a safe-conduct from the 
emperor. " We must not trust these Italians," 
said they. '' Whatever fair appearances the 
cardinal may put on, we know that he is in 
heart enraged against you, in the highest de- 
gree." They said so much on this point, that 
Luther consented to them, and agreed to wait 
for a safe-conduct ; which, as the emperor was 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 145 

now hunting in the neighbourhood, could be 
obtained in a little time. 

These gentlemen had scarcely left the con- 
vent, when Serra Longa returned. " Come." 
said he to Luther, " the cardinal is waiting for 
you. 1 will myself conduct you to him. But 
first let me tell you how you must appear in his 
presence. When you enter the room where 
he is sitting, you must prostrate yourself, with 
your face to the ground. When he tells you 
to rise, you must kneel before him ; and you 
must not stand erect till he tells you to do so. 
Kemember that it is before a prince of the 
church you are about to appear. As to the 
rest, fear nothing. All will soon be settled 
without any difficulty." Luther interrupted 
the volubility of the little man, by beginning 
to say something about a safe-conduct. '' O !" 
said Serra Longa, "do not seek any thing of 
that sort. You have no need of it whatever. 
The legate is kindly disposed towards you, 
and quite ready to end the affair amicably. If 
you ask for a safe-conduct, you will spoil 
all." Luther told him, at length, that he had 
pledged himself to his friends not to venture 
without a safe-conduct, and that all his flatteries 
13 



146 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

and entreaties would be vain; so that Longa 
was obliged to return to his employer, and re- 
port the failure of his mission, at the moment 
when he fancied it would be crowned w^ith 
success. And thus ended the first day's adven- 
tures of the reformer at Augsburg. 

The next day was Sunday, when his lodg- 
ings were crowded with visiters, intent upon 
seeing the great Doctor Luther. He was 
earnesdy invited to preach, but he prudently 
declined the invitation. He was beset, also, 
by the emissaries of the cardinal. " The car- 
dinal sends you assurances of his grace," said 
they. *' Why are you afraid ? He is so gra- 
cious, that he will be like a father to you." 
While they were proceeding in this strain, 
some one came up close behind him and whis- 
pered, '' Do not believe a word that they say. 
There is no dependence to be placed upon 
them." 

On the morning of the next day, Monday, 
Serra Longa appeared again. " Why do you 
not go to the cardinal?" said he, as soon as he 
entered. *'He is expecting you, in the most 
indulgent frame of mind. With him, the whole 
question is summed up in six letters, Revoca, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 147 

(^retract,) Come then with me ; you have no- 
thing to fear." Luther thought within him- 
self that these were six pretty important letters. 
He replied in brief, that he would appear as 
soon as he had received his safe-conduct. At 
these words Longa lost his temper again, and 
continued to prate for some little time. But 
finding Luther immovable, he left the house, 
leaped into his saddle and rode away. 

Shortly after his departure Luther received 
his safe-conduct, and began immediately to 
prepare for his interview with the legate. The 
legate, on his part, expecting to meet the 
heretic the next day, called together his ad- 
visers, that they might consult as to the most 
proper method of treating him. One said, 
" We must compel him to retract." Another, 
" We must arrest him and throw him into pri- 
son." A third thought it might be better to 
put him silently out of the way. A fourth, 
that it would be expedient rather to win him 
over by gentleness and kindness. The cardi- 
nal seems to have inclined to make trial, in the 
first instance, of this last method. 

At length the day of conference arrived, and 
Luther repaired to the palace of the legate, 



148 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

accompanied by several friends. On entering 
the room where the cardinal was, he found 
him waiting, attended by Serra Longa. The 
reception of Luther was cool, but civil. The 
formalities of introduction being over, the 
legate remained silent, expecting Luther to 
begin his recantation. Luther also continued 
silent, reverently waiting for the prince to ad- 
dress him. But finding that he did not open 
his lips, he at length introduced the subject as 
follows : " Most worthy father, upon the sum- 
mons of his holiness, the pope, and at the de- 
sire of my gracious lord, the Elector of Saxony, 
I appear before you as an humble and obedient 
son of the holy Christian church. I acknow- 
ledge myself to be the author of the theses that 
are the subject of inquiry. I am ready to 
listen, with all submission, to the charges 
brought against me, and, if I am in error, to 
be instructed in the truth." The cardinal re- 
plied, " My dear son, you have filled all Ger- 
many with commotion, by your dispute con- 
cerning indulgences. I hear that you are a 
doctor well skilled in the Scriptures, and that 
you have many foUow^ers. If, therefore, you 
wish to be a member of the church, and to 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 149 

have the pope a most gracious lord, listen to 
me. Here are three articles which, acting 
under the direction of our most holy father, 
the pope, I am to propose to you : First, you 
must retract your errors, acknowledge your 
faults and return to your duty. Secondly, you 
must promise to abstain, for the future, from 
propagating your opinions. And thirdly, you 
must engage to be more discreet, and avoid 
every thing that may grieve or disturb the 
church." 

Luther now requested to see the pope's 
brief, by which the cardinal was empowered 
to negotiate and settle the difficulty ; a most 
reasonable request certainly, and one in 
strict accordance with all legal forms. But 
the legate answered, '' Your demand, my son, 
cannot be complied with. You must acknow- 
ledge your errors, and be careful in future 
what you teach ; and then, acting by the com- 
mand and on the authority of our most holy 
father, the pope, I will adjust the whole affair." 
" Well, then," said Luther, '' if I must acknow- 
ledge my errors, you will please to inform me 
what my errors are." 

At this request the Italians present were as- 
13* 



150 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

tonished. They had expected to see the poor 
German fall down on his knees and beg for 
mercy. But the cardinal, thinking it hardly 
generous to crush a poor feeble monk by the 
weight of all his authority, and trusting to his 
own learning to give him an easy victory, 
condescended to tell Luther what he was ac- 
cused of, and even to enter into some discus- 
sion with him. '* My beloved son, there are 
two propositions contained in your works, 
which you must, above all, retract : First, the 
treasure of indulgences does not consist of 
the merits and sufFermgs of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Secondly, the man who receives the 
holy sacrament must have faith in the grace 
offered to him, or he is not benefited." 

These propositions were, indeed, fatal to the 
commerce of Rome, and no wonder the legate 
required that they should be retracted. For 
if, on purchasing the indulgence, men did not 
acquire any portion of Christ's merits, this 
paper currency lost its value, and was no bet- 
ter than a mere rag. And so also of the sacra- 
ments, which were continually bought and sold 
for money : if faith on the part of the recipient 
was necessary in order to their possessing any 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 151 

efficacy, their value in the estimation of the 
thoughtless multitude would be lost. For faith 
is not in the gift of the pope. It is beyond 
Iiis power, and can come only from the Lord. 

In showing the error of the above stated 
propositions, the legate had no recourse to the 
Scriptures, but quoted a constitution of Pope 
Clement VI., and various opinions from the 
scholastic divines. But Luther replied, " I 
cannot receive the constitutions of popes as 
sufficient proofs on subjects of so much im- 
portance. For they wrest the Holy Scriptures, 
and do not quote them to the purpose." To 
which the legate replied, *' The pope has 
power and authority over all things ;" an as- 
sertion which, of course, Luther was not will- 
ing to admit. 

After considerable discussion, Luther at 
length said to the legate, '* As to the matter of 
indulgences, if you can prove to me that I am 
mistaken, I am ready to receive instruction. 
We may leave that subject open without com- 
promising our faith as Christians. But as to 
that other article concerning faith, if I yielded 
any thing there, I should be denying Christ. 
I cannot, therefore, yield that point, and I will 



152 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

not. God helping me,' I will hold it unto the 
end." But said the cardinal in anger, *' Whe- 
ther you will, or will not, you must this very 
day retract that article, or else, for that alone, 
I will reject and condemn all your doctrine." 
To which Luther replied, *' I have no will but 
the Lord's. He will do with me what seem- 
eth good in his sight. But had I a hundred 
heads, I would rather lose them all, than re- 
tract the testimony I have borne to the holy 
Christian faith." The cardinal answered, "I 
am not come here to argue with you. You 
must retract, or prepare to endure the punish- 
ment you have deserved." 

Luther, perceiving that no good could come 
of such a discussion, manifested a willingness 
to withdraw ; which he did, after that the 
legate had offered, and he rejected, a proposi- 
tion to remove the farther consideration of the 
subject from Augsburg to Rome. 

On returning to the convent, Luther was 
rejoiced to meet there his old and tried Chris- 
tian friend, Staupitz. He had just arrived in 
the city, hoping to be able to afford some as- 
sistance to Luther, in his trying and perilous 
circumstances. Luther related to him fully 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 153 

all that had passed ; how he had found it im- 
possible to get a satisfactory answer to his in- 
quiries ; and how he had been required to 
recant, without even an attempt to convict him 
of error. It was by the advice of Staupitz 
that Luther prepared to meet the legate, at the 
next interview, in writing. 

The following day Luther repaired a second 
time to the legate's palace, accompanied by 
Staupitz and by other powerful friends. He 
had also the precaution to take a notary with 
him. After the customary salutations, Luther 
read, with a firm voice, the following written 
declaration : ''I declare that I honour the holy 
Roman church, and that I will continue to do 
so. I have sought after truth, in my public 
disputations, and what I have taught I regard, 
to this hour, as true and Christian. Neverthe- 
less, I am but a man, and may be mistaken. I 
am willing, therefore, to be instructed and cor- 
rected wherein I may have erred. I declare 
myself ready to answer, by word of mouth, 
or in writing, all charges and objections which 
the illustrious legate may bring against me. 
I declare myself willing to submit my theses 
to the decision of the four universities of Bale, 



154 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Fribourg, Louvain and Paris, and to retract 
whatever they shall declare to be erroneous. 
In a word, I am ready to do all that can be 
required of a Christian man. But I solemnly 
protest against the method that has been pur- 
sued in this affair, and against that strange as- 
sumption which would oblige me to retract, 
without having convicted me of error." 

The legate was quite unprepared for such a 
protest, and strove to hide his confusion by 
affecting to laugh and putting on the semblance 
of mildness. " This paper," said he to Luther, 
'' is quite unnecessary ; I will not dispute with 
you, in public or in private. My wish is to 
settle the whole affair with paternal tenderness. 
I beseech you, therefore, my dear friend, tore- 
turn to a sense of duty, acknowledge the truth, 
and behold me ready to reconcile you to the 
church and to the supreme bishop. Retract^ 
my friend, retract. Such is the pope's will. 
You will find it hard to kick against the 
pricks." 

To this Luther replied promptly, " I cannot 
retract; but I offer to answer you in writing. 
We had enough of contention yesterday." The 
cardinal was provoked at this expression, and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 155 

immediately entered on a long and noisy ha- 
rangue, with a view to crush and overwhelm 
his adversary, without giving him opportunity 
to reply. He sneered, he chided, he de- 
claimed ; he quoted from St. Thomas and Aris- 
totle, and raved against all those who differed 
from them; he broke out in harsh invective 
against Luther ; and jumbled together the most 
incongruous things. Again and again, Luther 
attempted to reply ; but the legate interrupted 
him, and overwhelmed him with cries of 
"Recant! recant!" Staupitz interposed, and 
entreated the legate that Dr. Luther might be 
permitted to answer. But his highness resolved 
to have all the talk to himself. Unable to con- 
vince, and fearing to strike, he would at least 
stun by his violence. 

Perceiving his object, and knowing that it 
would be vain to attempt to turn him from it, 
Luther renewed his request, that he might be 
permitted to send in his answer to the legate in 
writing. In this he was seconded by Staupitz, 
and by several others who were present. At 
length, the ca]:dinal consented to this propo- 
sition, and the parties separated. 

The two allegations which were to be an- 



156 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

swered in writing, were those before stated re- 
specting indulgences and faith. Luther lost no 
time in preparing his answer, and was ready 
the next day to lay it before the cardinal. He 
insisted that the saints, so far from possessing 
a superabundance of merit, which went to con- 
stitute a treasury of indulgence, had really no 
merit on which to rest their own salvation. 
They must be saved by grace, or not at all. 
And as to the merits of Christ, these were not 
a treasure of indulgences, excusing us from 
good works, but a treasure of grace quickening 
us to perform them, Christ's merits were ap- 
plied, too, not by the keys, or the pope's 
indulgences, but by the Holy Ghost alone. 
Luther went also into a full vindication of his 
doctrine respecting faith ; and concluded by 
saying, '* Deign then, worshipful father, to in- 
tercede on my behalf with our most holy lord, 
the pope, that he may not treat me with so 
much severity. My soul seeks the light of 
truth. I am not so proud that I should be 
ashamed to retract, if I had taught what is not 
agreeable to the truth. My greatest joy will 
be to see the triumph of that doctrine which is 
according to the mind of God. Only let me 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 157 

not be forced to do any thing that is against my 
conscience." 

The legate affected to treat with great con- 
tempt the answer which Luther presented to 
him. After looking it over, he threw it down 
with a contemptuous gesture, as if unworthy of 
his regard ; and then assuming his former tone, 
he commenced a long speech, in which he 
scolded and thundered without intermission, 
claiming the sole right to be heard. 

This mode of proceeding at the former inter- 
view had been in some degree successful; but 
Luther was not a man to bear with it a second 
time. His indignation broke through all 
restraint, and raising his sonorous voice, he 
showed to the astonished bystanders that he 
had a right to be heard as well as the cardinal. 
He took up the principal argument of his oppo- 
nent, in favour of indulgences, drawn from the 
constitution of Pope Clement VL, and showed 
that even this did not bear him out; it could 
not be proved from this, that "the treasure of 
indulgences is the merit of Christ." Pope 
Clement had said, that "Christ had acquired 
this treasure by his merits;" but certainly, the 
merit and the treasure were different things, 
14 



Ie58 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

even according to that authority on which the 
cardinal wholly relied. His highness endea- 
voured to escape from the snare into which he 
had fallen; but Luther held him with a strong 
hand. He endeavoured to change the subject in 
dispute ; but Luther brought him back to it, and 
drew tighter on every side the fatal net, so that 
a retreat was absolutely impossible. "Most 
reverend father," said he, " your eminence must 
not suppose that we Germans are altogether 
ignorant of grammar. To be a treasure and to 
acquire a treasure are obviously two very differ- 
ent things." 

The cardinal had no means of extricating 
himself, or covering his confusion, but by cry- 
ing out, as he had often done before, *' Eetract ! 
retract ! If you do not retract, I will excom- 
municate you, and all your partisans, and send 
you to Rome, to be judged there. I have full 
power from the pope to do all this. And do 
you imagine that the pope has any fear of Ger- 
many ? The pope's little finger is stronger than 
all the princes of Germany put together." 

" Condescend," replied Luther, «* to forward 
the written answer, which I have just given 
you, to Pope Leo X., with my most humble 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 159 

prayers." At these words the legate turned 
to Luther, and with a haughty and angry look, 
said, ''Retract, or return no more." Luther 
made his obeisance and withdrew ; and he and 
Cardinal Cajetan never met again. It has been 
supposed that this dispute had a powerful ef- 
fect on the mind of the cardinal, and led to a 
very considerable modification of his own views 
on the important subject of justification. 

Luther returned to his convent, happy in 
the consciousness that he had been enabled to 
stand his ground and do his duty. The din- 
ner hour had scarcely passed, when the car- 
dinal sent for Staupitz, and urged him to use 
his influence with Luther, to bring him to an 
open acknowledgment of his errors. " You 
must reason with him," said he, "and refute 
the arguments which he brings from the Scrip- 
tures." Staupitz candidly confessed that this 
was beyond his power. " Martin is more than 
a match for me, both in acuteness and in a 
knowledge of the Bible. Your grace would do 
well to resume the conference yourself, in re- 
spect to the controverted points." But the car- 
dinal shook his head, and said, " I will argue 
no more with the beast. His eyes are too 



160 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

deeply set in his head, and his look is full of 
meaning." He, however, promised Staupitz 
that he would state to Luther, in writing, what 
it was that he wished him to retract; a pro- 
mise which he never fulfilled. 

Staupitz soon returned to Luther in the con- 
vent, where he was met by several other beloved 
Christian friends, who, at the instance of Lu- 
ther, united in celebrating the holy supper of 
the Lord. The occasion was deeply and sub- 
limely interesting. The bolt of excommuni- 
cation was certainly levelled at the head of one 
of them, perhaps of more than one ; and their 
very lives were in instant and imminent peril. 
They vere about to separate, perhaps to meet 
no more in this world. The sacred supper, 
under these circumstances, in the cell of a con- 
vent, very closely resembled that primitive 
supper, in an upper chamber, when our Lord 
was about to be betrayed and crucified. 

The cardinal continued to send kind mes- 
sages to Luther, day after day, in the hope of 
softening him into some important retractions. 
Thinking it possible that in his discussions he 
might have used expressions that were harsh 
or disrespectful, Luther wrote the cardinal a 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 161 

letter, indicating his fears on tiiis point, and 
asking his pardon, if he had needlessly offend- 
ed him. He made no concessions, however, 
in respect to doctrines. 

To this communication the cardinal return- 
ed no answer ; but observed a studied and 
portentous silence in regard to Luther. No 
one was able to learn his intentions, or to 
fathom his designs. It was now that the 
friends of Luther became alarmed for his safety 
and urged him to depart. Every moment, 
they thought, was replete with danger, as the 
cardinal was, in all probability, meditating 
some dark design against his liberty, or his 
life. Staupitz and some others, who had ac- 
companied the reformer to Augsburg, were 
already gone, and he was left in the midst of 
his enemies, comparatively alone. Besides, he 
could think of no good object to be answered 
by his remaining longer, and his duties impe- 
riously called him away. In these circum- 
stances, he drew up an earnest appeal from the 
pope ill informed respecting his case, to the 
pope when he shall be better informed. He 
wrote a letter, also, to the cardinal, to be de- 
livered after his departure ; and on the morning 
14* 



162 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

of the 18th of October, before day-break, under 
the conduct of a faithful guide, he left Augs-# 
burg. He rode on horseback, without a bridle, 
and without boots, spurs, or arms. When he 
had got fairly out of the city, and began to 
breathe the open air, and traverse the fields 
and villages of his native land, he could not 
help singing aloud, in the language of David, 
" Our soul is escaped, as a bird out of the snare 
of the fowler. The snare is broken, and we 
are delivered. Our help is in the name of the 
Lord, who made heaven and earth." 

Luther rode near fifty miles the first day. 
The remainder of the journey he travelled 
more leisurely, and arrived at Wittemberg, Oc- 
tober 30. The latter part of his journey seem- 
ed almost like a triumph. He was returning 
without having given up any thing to Rome. 
Such a victory, gained by a poor mendicant 
friar over the proud representative of the pope, 
filled every heart with astonishment. 

When the cardinal heard of Luther's depart- 
ure, he was greatly vexed. He had been am- 
bitious of the honour of healing the wounds of 
the church and of re-establishing the declining 
influence of the pope in Germany; but the 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 163 

heretic was gone, without his having so much 
as humbled him. He immediately wrote an 
angry letter to the Elector Frederic, demanding 
that Luther should be sent to Rome; or, at 
least, that he should be banished out of his ter- 
ritories. "Be assured," said he, "that this 
complicated, evil-intentioned and mischievous 
affair cannot be long protracted. As soon as I 
shall have informed our most holy lord the 
pope of all this malice, he will bring it to a 
speedy end." 



164 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Cajetan angry at Luther's departure — Luther on the point 
of being ordered away from Wittemberg — A new bull 
in favour of indulgences — Luther appeals to a general 
council — Cajetan blamed at Rome — Miltitz sent to ne- 
gotiate with Luther — Miltitz enraged against Tetzel — 
Luther's first interview with Miltitz — Second interview, 
when a truce is agreed upon — Tetzel's disgrace and 
death — Luther's great popularity as a teacher — His 
works published at Basle — Miltitz embarrassed — The 
truce broken by Dr. Eck — Dispute at Leipzic between 
Eck and Carlstadt — Luther takes part in it — Import- 
ant results of the dispute — Melancthon's history — Ef- 
fect of the dispute on his mind — Luther's commentary 
on the Galatians. 

It was while Luther was on his return from 
Augsburg, that he first got sight of the pope's 
brief, or commission to Cardinal Cajetan, em- 
powering him to act in reference to his case. 
It was now that he learned, for the first time, 
that he had already been adjudged a heretic, at 
Rome. The knowledge of this fact, not only- 
filled him with indignation, at the palpable 
unfairness with which he had been treated, 
but also perplexed him as to his duties and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 165 

prospects. For being condemned as a heretic 
at Rome, he could scarcely hope to be permit- 
ted to continue in his professorship at Wittein- 
herg, or to find an asylum in a convent, or to 
dwell anywhere in peace and safety. The 
protection of the elector might, perhaps, avail 
him ; but he was far from being sure of that. 
However, it seemed to him clear that he ought 
to return to Wittemberg, and there wait to see 
what the eternal and merciful God would do 
with him. Meanwhile, he busied himself in 
publishing an account of his conference with 
the legate. Whatever might come in future, 
he resolved that this should remain, as a 
memorial of the struggle between himself and 
Rome. 

We have already spoken of the legate's 
angry letter to the elector. After a suitable 
time, the elector replied, expressing strong 
disapprobation of the manner in which Luther 
had been treated at Augsburg, and declining 
either to send him to Rome, or, for the present, 
at least, to drive him from his territories. 
This decision of the elector was a great com- 
fort to Luther, as it afforded him, if no more, 
a little respite ; and it was by such respites 



166 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

that the Reformation, in the earlier stages of 
it, was carried forward. 

Luther seems to have had a presentiment, 
however, that he should not be permitted to 
remain at Wittemberg, and he seriously thought, 
at one time, of a voluntary removal. The 
freedom enjoyed by the doctors of the Univer- 
sity of Paris appeared to him desirable, and 
he half resolved to attach himself to their num- 
ber. The elector also, on one occasion, ex- 
pressly signified to Luther that he wished him 
to depart ; but before he could get ready for a 
removal, the decision was revoked, and he 
was permitted and even requested to remain. 
Upon such seemingly slight contingencies did 
the fate of the Reformation seem often to be 
suspended. Had Luther gone to Paris, or 
retired from Wittemberg in any direction, it is 
impossible to conjecture what the state of Ger- 
many and of Europe might now have been. 

As the constitution of Clement VL had been 
found not sufficiently explicit in support of 
indulgences, Pope Leo X. caused a new bull 
to be published, in which he confirmed the 
doctrine of indulgences, in precisely those 
points which had been called in question. As 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 167 

Luther had always declared his willingness to 
submit to the decision of the Romish church, 
he must now, thought the pope, either keep 
his word, or show himself to be a disturber of 
the peace and a despiser of the apostolic see. 
In either case, it was thought that the pope 
must be a gainer. But Luther was ready for 
this turn of affairs. On the 28th of Novem- 
ber, 1518, he publicly appealed from the judg- 
ment of the pope to that of a general council 
of the church. '' Seeing that the pope," says 
he, " like any other man, may fall into error, 
commit sin and other falsehood, and that the 
appeal to a general council is the only safe- 
guard against acts of injustice, which it is 
impossible to resist, — on these grounds I find 
myself obliged to have recourse to it." 

But this step of Luther, though one of 
seeming necessity, was also one of exceeding 
peril. It was a fresh attack upon the papal 
authority. A bull of Pope Pius II. had pro- 
nounced the greater excommunication against 
any one, not excepting the emperor himself, 
who should presume to appeal to a general 
council. Luther had every reason to suppose, 
therefore, that his appeal would only hasten 



168 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

his excommunication, and his consequent ba 
nishment from the German States. But while 
every thing seemed to portend and threaten 
such an event, suddenly the policy of Rome is 
changed. Instead of anathemas and destruc- 
tion, she is resolved to make one more attempt 
at negotiation. 

The ill success of Cajetan had occasioned 
much dissatisfaction at Rome ; and the blame 
of the failure fell in no small measure upon 
him. He had been deficient, it was thought, 
in prudence and address ; he had not suffi- 
ciently relaxed the strictness of his scholastic 
theology, on so important an occasion ; his 
awkwardness and pedantry had spoiled all. 
Why did he provoke Luther by threats and 
insults, instead of alluring him by the promise 
of a bishopric, or even, if necessary, of a car- 
dinal's hat? 

Under the influence of such impressions at 
Rome, it was determined to send another 
envoy into Germany, and see if a second 
effort at negotiation might not be more suc- 
cessful. The person selected for this import- 
ant service was Charles Miltitz, a Saxon by 
birth, but who had long resided at Rome, and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 169 

was now in office as chamberlain to the pope. 
He was a vain man, who pretended to some 
family connexion with the princes of his native 
country, so that the courtiers at Home some- 
times called him the Duke of Saxony. In 
Italy he boasted of his German nobility ; while 
in Germany he affected awkwardly the man- 
ners and refinement of Italy. He was given 
to wine, and this vice had increased upon him 
during his residence at Rome. Nevertheless, 
the pope and his cardinals placed great reliance 
on him. His insinuating manners, his Ger- 
man extraction, his skill in negotiation, alto- 
gether persuaded them that he might, by his 
prudence, arrest the progress of that revolution 
which now threatened the world. 

The real object of his mission into Germany 
was in a measure concealed. The ostensible 
object was, that he might present the conse- 
crated golden rose to the Elector Frederic. 
This rose, which was deemed to represent the 
body of Christ, was consecrated every year by 
the sovereign pontiff, and presented to one of 
the leading princes of Europe. The Elector 
of Saxony had petitioned for it, several years 
before : and it was determined, at the present 
15 



170 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

critical juncture, to present it to him. By- 
means of this bauble, it was expected that 
Frederic and his counsellors might be gained, 
and that, through them, the great adversary 
of Rome might be placed within her power. 

The new legate arrived in Germany in the 
month of December, 1518. The mere report 
of his arrival spread suspicion and distrust in 
the elector's court and throughout Saxony. 
From all quarters Luther was advised to be on 
his guard against the stratagems of Miltitz. 

On his arrival in Saxony, Miltitz first made 
a visit to his former friend, Spalatin ; but 
scarcely had he begun to open his charges 
against Luther, when the chaplain broke out 
in complaints against Tetzel. He acquainted 
the legate with the falsehoods and blasphemies 
of this old vender of indulgences, and declared 
that all Germany ascribed to his audacious 
proceedings the dissensions that now distracted 
the church. Miltitz affected great astonish- 
ment. Instead of being the accuser, he found 
himself in the place of one accused. His 
wrath was instantly turned against Tetzel, and 
he summoned him to appear before him at 
Altenburg, to account for his conduct. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 171 

This blustering Dominican had ceased, for 
some time, to preach or sell indulgences, and 
was now living in retirement in a college at 
Leipsic. He turned pale with fear, on the 
receipt of Miltitz's letter. He foresaw that 
Rome herself was about to abandon him ; and 
where should he flee ? He excused himself 
from obeying the summons, on the ground 
that Luther had excited such a prejudice 
against him, that he could not with safety 
appear abroad anywhere. A striking contrast 
between the Christian boldness of one of these 
men and the contemptible cowardice of the 
other ! 

Miltitz earnesdy desired to have a private 
interview with Luther, and Spalatin kindly 
offered his house for the purpose. They met 
near the 1st of January, 1519. "Dear Mar- 
tin," said the legate, as soon as Luther came 
into his presence, "I thought you were an old 
theologian, who, quietly seated at his fireside, 
had certain fixed theological crotchets ; but I 
see you are yet young, and in the prime of 
life. Do you know that you have drawn, 
away all the world from the pope ? Assuredly, 
if I had an army of twenty-five thousand men, 



172 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

I would not undertake to kidnap you and carry 
you to Rome."* 

Thinking that, by these flatteries, he had m 
some measure prepared the mind of Luther, 
the legate continued : " Now be persuaded 
yourself to stanch the wound you have inflict- 
ed on the church, and which none but yourself 
can heal. Beware, 1 beseech you, of raising 
and continuing a storm, in which the best inte- 
rests of mankind must be wrecked." He 
insinuated something about a retractation; but 
immediately softened the objectionable word 
into expressions of high esteem for Luther, 
and of the intensest indignation against Tetzel. 

In reply, Luther enumerated some of the 
just complaints of Christians, and spoke of the 
unworthy manner in which, notwithstanding 
the uprightness of his intentions, he had 
himself been treated by the court of Rome. 
''Nevertheless," added he, "I offer, from this 
time forth, to keep silence on these subjects, 
and to let the matter die away, provided my 

* The wretch had, at this moment, in his pocket all 
the requisite briefs and other apparatus for carrying 
Luther to Rome, if he could only get him in his power. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 173 

enemies also are reduced to silence : but if 
they continue their attacks, we shall very soon 
see a partial dispute give rise to a serious 
struggle. I have my weapons ready prepared. 
— I will even go further," said he, after a 
moment's pause ; *' I will write to his holiness, 
acknowledging that I may have been too vio- 
lent in my language ; and declare, that it is as 
a faithful son of the church that I have opposed 
a style of preaching which drew upon it the 
mockeries and insults of the people. I even 
consent to put forth a writing, in which I will 
desire all who shall read my works not to see 
in them any attack on the church of Rome ; 
and in which I will beseech my readers to 
continue in submission to its authority. Yes, 
I am willing to do every thing and bear every 
thing; but as to a retractation of my doctrines, 
it is out of the question." After a few words 
more of desultory conversation, the first inter- 
view between the reformer and the nuncio 
terminated. 

They met again ; at which meeting a truce 

was signed, of which Luther immediately gave 

information to the elector, as follows : " Most 

serene prince and gracious lord, I hasten to 

15* 



174 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

inform your electoral highness, that Charles 
Mihitz and myself are at last agreed, and have 
terminated our differences by the following 
articles. 1. Both sides are forbidden to write 
or act, henceforward, in the question that has 
been raised. 2. Miltitz will, without delay, 
communicate to his holiness the state of affairs. 
His holiness will commission an enlightened 
bishop to inquire into the matter, and point out 
the errors which I am to retract. If proof is 
afforded me that I am in error, I will retract, 
and never more do any thing that can lessen 
the honour and authority of the holy Roman 
church." 

When the agreement had been effected, the 
joy of Miltitz was uncontrollable. At one 
moment he exulted, and then he wept. " For 
a century," said he, "no question has caused 
so much anxiety to the cardinals and court of 
Rome. They would have given ten thousand 
ducats, rather than see it prolonged." 

Luther was not much moved by the tears of 
the legate. He spoke of them afterwards as 
" crocodile tears." Still, he manifested (what 
he truly felt) a degree of satisfaction. Miltitz 
invited him to supper ; and he accepted the in- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 175 

vitation. When the repast was over, Miltitz 
opened his arms to the heretical doctor, and 
saluted him with a kiss. *'A Judas's kiss," 
thought Luther at the time. However, lie 
manifested no suspicions. 

Miltitz repaired immediately to Leipsic, 
where Tetzel was, and summoned the culprit 
into his presence. He overwhelmed him with 
reproaches, accusing him of being the cause of 
all the difficulty, and threatening him with the 
pope's intensest anger. He charged upon him 
not merely the blasphemous expressions with 
which he had urged the sale of indulgences, 
but the sin of appropriating to his own pur- 
poses a part of the money which he had re- 
ceived. The miserable wretch whom, in the 
day of his triumph, nothing could abash, 
was struck motionless by these well-founded 
charges. He shrunk despairingly, and would 
gladly have buried himself in the bowels of 
the earth. Luther seems to have been almost 
the only person in the world who pitied him. 
He actually sat down and wrote him a letter 
of sympathy and of consolation. But it came 
too late. Haunted by the remorse of con- 



176 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

science, alarmed by the reproaches of those 
whom he had thouglit his friends, and dread- 
ing the anger of the pope, the health of Tetzel 
speedily failed, and he died miserably. It 
was generally believed that grief and despair 
hastened his end. 

While these things were passing at Leip- 
sic, Luther was busily engaged in his private 
studies. He was studying the decretals of the 
pontiffs, and other portions of the history of 
the papacy. And he began to discover^^what 
he clearly understood at a later period — that 
the papacy is Antichrist. " I know not," 
wrote he to Spalatin, " whether the pope is 
Antichrist himself, or whether he is his apos- 
tle ; so misrepresented and even crucified does 
Christ appear in these decretals of the pontiffs 
which I am reading." Still, he venerated 
the ancient church of Rome, and had no de- 
sign or thought of separating from it. " That 
the Roman church," said he, "is more ho- 
noured of God than all other churches, is not 
to be doubted. St. Peter, St. Paul, forty-six 
popes and some hundreds of thousands of mar- 
tyrs have laid down their lives in its commu- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 177 

nion, having overcome hell and the world ; so 
that the eyes of God rest on the Roman church 
with special favour. Though at the present 
time every thing there is in a wretched state, 
this is no ground for separating from it. On 
the contrary, the more evils prevail there, the 
closer should we cling to it ; since it is not by 
separation that we can cure these evils." We 
commend this whole letter to the consideration 
of those who think that Luther needlessly 
broke the unity of the church and sundered 
the bond of her communion. It was not Lu- 
ther that separated himself from Rome, but 
Rome that separated herself from Luther. 

While Luther was diligently pursuing his 
studies and performing his professional duties 
at Wittemberg, his fame and his usefulness 
were more widely extended. The number of 
his students constantly increased, and among 
them were found the most distinguished youth 
of Germany. ''Our city," wrote Luther, 
"can scarce hold the numbers that are ar- 
riving." On another occasion he writes, " The 
students increase upon us like an overflowing 
tide." 



178 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

It was at this period, too, that Frobenius, a 
celebrated printer of Basle, collected the writ- 
ings of Luther together, and published them in 
one uniform edition. They circulated rapidly, 
not only in Switzerland and Germany, but in 
most other countries of Europe. The pub- 
lisher sent six hundred copies into France and 
Spain. They were sold publicly at Paris, and 
read with approbation by some of the doctors 
of the Sorbonne. In England they were re- 
ceived with still greater eagerness. Some 
Spanish merchants translated them into Spa- 
nish, and forwarded them from Antwerp to 
their own country. A learned bookseller of 
Pavia took a large number of copies to Italy, 
and circulated them in the transalpine cities. 
Frobenius, the publisher, in forwarding a copy 
to Luther, remarks, "I have sold the whole 
edition, except ten copies ; and no speculation 
ever answered my purpose so well as this." 

'* Such," says a learned historian, " was 
the commencement of the awakening in the 
several countries of Europe. If we except 
Switzerland, where the preaching of the gos- 
pel had been already heard, the arrival of 
Luther's writings everywhere forms the first 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 179 

page in the history of the Reformation. A 
printer of Basle scattered the first germs of 
truth. At the moment when the Roman pon- 
tiff thought to stifle the work in Germany, it 
began to appear in France, in the Low Coun- 
tries, in Italy, Spain, England and Switzer- 
land ; so that, should the power of Rome suc- 
ceed in felling the parent stem, the seeds are 
now scattered abroad in all lands."* 

But it is time that we return to Miltilz. The 
object of his embassy, sufficiently delicate and 
difficult at any time, became the more so at 
this time, on account of several unanticipated 
changes in providence. The first of these was 
the death of the Emperor Maximilian, which 
occurred shortly after the arrival of the legate 
in Germany. In consequence of this event, 
the Elector Frederic became, for the time, the 
administrator of the empire ; and, as such, had 
little to fear from the frowns or the flatteries 
of any legate. Then new interests were set 
to work in the Romish court, which compelled 
it to temporize in its negotiations with Frederic. 
The pope and his minions had enough to do, 
in their intrigues respecting a successor in the 

* D'Aubigne, vol. ii. p. 21, 



180 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

empire, without troubling themselves deeply 
with the affairs of Luther. At the same time 
political troubles broke out in different parts 
of the empire, in consequence of the emperor's 
demise. Several of the princes undertook to 
avenge private quarrels, and invaded one an- 
other's dominions. While these things were 
in agitation, it v/as difficult to adjust satisfac- 
torily a theological controversy. 

Perceiving the difficulty of his situation, 
Miltitz, in conjunction with Cajetan, who was 
still in Germany, contrived a plan to get the 
person of Luther into their power, and to de- 
spatch him privately to Rome. The two 
legates had taken up their residence, for the 
time, at Treves. As Luther had agreed, in 
writing, to submit his cause to the arbitration 
of some learned bishop, and had privately in- 
timated that the Archbishop of Treves would 
not be unacceptable to him, they persuaded 
the archbishop to summon the heretical doctor 
into his presence ; intending, undoubtedly, as 
soon as he had passed out of the dominions 
of Frederic, to place him in a situation where 
he would not escape. But Luther was not 
slow to comprehend the artifice. <* Every- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 181 

where, on all sides," said he, ''my life is 
hunted." He excused himself to Miltitz for 
not obeying the summons ; and the archbishop, 
who was a prudent and moderate man, did not 
press it. It was agreed to defer the examina- 
tion till the ensuing diet of the empire ; which 
diet did not assemble during the next two years. 
But another event occurred still more discou- 
raging to Miltitz than any which had preceded. 
The mutual silence agreed upon had been 
broken; and that not by Luther, but by one of 
the popish doctors. We have already heard 
of Eck, the celebrated professor at Ingolstadt, 
and author of '* the Obelisks." One of Luther's 
colleagues at Wittemberg (commonly known 
by the name of Carlstadt^) had written against 
''the Obelisks;" to whom Eck had replied; 
and several papers had passed between them. 
Eck now challenged Carlstadt to a public dis- 
pute; and the theses which he set forth as the 
ground of the discussion were so framed as to 
bear directly on the doctrines of Luther. Thus 
Luther had the mortification of seeing a dispu- 
tation pending between the Goliath of Ingol- 

* His real name was Andrew Bodenstein. He was 
called Carlstadt from the place of his birth. 
16 



182 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION* 

stadt and another person, while he himself was 
to be the real object of attack. " That man," 
said he, ''declares Carlstadt to be his antago* 
nist, and at the same moment attacks me. But 
God reigns. He knows what, at length, is to 
come out of this tragedy." 

The dispute was appointed to take place at 
Leipzic, under the protection and patronage of 
Duke George of Saxony. Luther published 
a series of propositions in reply to those of 
Eck, and earnestly sought permission of Duke 
George that he might come to Leipzic, and 
take part in the approaching discussion ; but 
the duke refused to give his consent. He was 
willing that Eck and Carlstadt should dispute, 
but he feared the power and the influence of 
Luther. 

It was towards the end of June, 1519, that 
the parties came together at Leipzic. Dr. Eck, 
with his attendants, was first on the ground ; 
but a large party from Wittemberg, preachers, 
professors, citizens and students, among whom 
was Luther, who had obtained permission to 
be there as a spectator, arrived shortly after- 
wards. As soon as Eck heard of the arrival 
of Luther, he came directly to his lodgings. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 183 

" What is this ?" said he ; '' I am told you object 
to disputing with me." ** How can I dispute," 
replied Luther, *'when the duke positively 
forbids me to do so?" ''If I am not allowed 
to dispute with you," answered Eck, ''I shall 
t^ke very little interest in discussing with Carl- 
stadt. It is on your account that I am here. 
If I obtain the duke's permission, will you 
take the field?" Luther readily answered that 
he would. " Only obtain permission," said he, 
*'and I will gladly meet you." 

Eck instantly waited on the duke, and 
urged the matter with so much importunity, 
that his request was granted. The duke had 
a large apartment in his palace, called the 
Pleissenberg, where he intended the discussion 
should take place. Two elevated pulpits were 
erected opposite each other ; tables were placed 
in front for the notaries ; and benches were 
ranged around for the audience. In front of 
the pulpit intended for the doctors of Wittem- 
berg, was suspended the portrait of St. Martin. 
In front of the other was the picture of St. 
George. "We shall see," said the haughty 
Eck, as he contemplated these emblems, *'if I 
do not trample my antagonist under my feet." 



184 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

The 27th of June was the day fixed upon 
for the opening of the discussion. The morn- 
ing of the day was occupied with religious ser- 
vices, so that the dispute did not actually 
commence till the afternoon. From this time 
it continued, with little interruption, for no less 
than twenty days. During the first week, the 
dispute was carried on between Eck and Cari- 
stadt, and related entirely to the subjects of 
free will and grace ; the latter maintaining the 
opinions of Augustine on these points, and 
the former those of Cassian and the Semi-Pe- 
lagians. 

It was on the 4th of July, that the contest 
commenced between Eck and Luther. The 
subject of it was of the deepest interest — the 
supremacy of the pope; and every thing 
announced that the discussion would be of a 
much more decisive character than that which 
had just terminated. Luther at this time 
accorded to the pope a kind of conventional 
supremacy, at least in those churches which 
acknowledged him as their head; but denied 
that he held this supremacy by a divine right; 
that it had any foundation in the Scriptures, or 
in the early fathers of the church. And this 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 185 

he found it very easy to demonstrate; so that 
there was little left to his antagonist but to 
shuffle and ridicule, to raise the cry of heresy, 
and practise his various scholastic arts. ''The 
reverend father," said Eck, ''has entered on 
this discussion, after v^ell preparing his subject. 
Your excellencies will excuse me, if I should 
not produce so much exact research. I came 
here to discuss and not to make a book." 

The debate on the pope's supremacy lasted 
five days ; after which were discussed the sub- 
jects of purgatory, indulgences, penance, abso- 
lution, &c. " The indulgences," said Luther, 
"fell with scarce the shadow of defence. It 
was no better than play, a mere joke. Eck did 
not dare to defend them ; he agreed with me 
in almost every thing." Speaking of the man- 
ner in which his opponent had conducted the 
discussion, Luther says, " He runs over Scrip- 
ture almost without touching it, as a spider 
runs upon the water. He flees before it, as the 
devil flees from before the cross." 

These theological discussions, which in our 

times could hardly be expected to excite much 

interest, had now been listened to with the 

deepest attention for twenty days, not only by 

16* 



186 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ecclesiastics and students, but by laymen, 
burghers, knights and princes. The Dukes 
of Pomerania and of Saxony were in constant 
attendance. Only one exception was to be 
made to the general interest. Some of the 
Leipsic divines, the friends of Dr. Eck, are said 
to have slept so soundly, the greater part of 
the time, that it was hard to awake them even at 
the hour of dinner. 

In his private letters, Eck acknowledged 
that he had been defeated on many points ; but 
in public he boasted loudly of his victory. It 
was not agreed, however, between him and his 
party, to whom the victory belonged. ''\i we 
had not come in aid of Eck," said his Leipsic 
allies, "the illustrious doctor would have been 
overthrown." *' The divines of Leipsic," said 
Eck, " are a well-meaning people ; but I had 
formed too high expectations of them. I did 
all myself." " All I can say to throw light on 
this question," adds Luther, " is, that Dr. Eck 
clamoured continually, and the men of Leipsic 
kept continual silence." 

The following opinion as to the result of the 
discussion is expressed by Mosellanus, one of 
the Leipsic professors, and an impartial eye- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 187 

witness of all that took place. " Eck has 
obtained the victory, in the opinion of those 
who do not understand the question, and who 
have grown gray in scholastic studies. But 
Luther and Carlstadt remain masters of the 
field, in the judgment of those who have learn- 
ing, intelligence and modesty."* 

Some of the results of this discussion were 
of more value than mere popular applause. 
Several individuals were brought hopefully to 
the knowledge of the truth. Among these, 
was Poliander, private secretary to Dr. Eck, 
and John CeJlarius, Professor of Hebrew at 
Leipsic. He shortly after gave up his place, 
and, full of humility, came to Wittemberg, to 
study at the feet of Luther. George, Prince 
of Anhalt, a mere youth, was present at these 
discussions, and received impressions which 
he never lost. He became afterwards a power- 
ful and consistent friend of the Reformation. 
But the noblest result of the disputation at 
Leipsic remains still to be mentioned. It was 
here that the great Melancthon, the theologian 
of the Reformation, and the most intimate and 

* Seckendorf, p. 207. 



188 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

powerful friend of Luther, received his call and 
anointing to the work. 

Melancthon, as I have remarked already, 
was the nephew of Reuchlin. He was born 
at Bretten, a small town in the palatinate, in 
the year 1497. To a powerful genius, he 
united great sweetness and gentleness of dis- 
position. He outstripped all his early com- 
petitors in learning, and was prepared to enter 
the University of Heidelberg when only 
twelve years of age. At the age of sixteen, 
his uncle Reuchlin invited him to Tubingen, 
where many eminent scholars were assembled. 
He attended the lecture of the theologians, the 
physicians, and the jurisconsults. He deemed 
no kind of knowledge unworthy of his pursuit, 
but was specially engaged, even at this early 
period, in the study of the Scriptures. Re- 
jecting the profitless speculations of the school- 
men, he thirsted for the plain word of God. 
When only seventeen years of age, he was 
made doctor of philosophy, and began to 
deliver lectures in public. He sided with his 
venerable uncle in his contests with the monks, 
and was favoured with the acquaintance and 
particular friendship of Erasmus. In a letter 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 189 

written at this time, Erasmus says, "I have 
the highest opinion and the most brilliant ex- 
pectations of Melancthon. May the Lord so 
order events, that he may long survive us. He 
will altogether eclipse Erasmus." 

At the age of twenty-one, he was appointed 
to the professorship of Greek at Wittemberg. 
The impression which he made, on his first arri- 
val at Wittemberg, was not of the most favour- 
able kind. He was of small stature, a shy and 
timid demeanour, and appeared more youth- 
ful than he really was. *' Is this the man," 
thought the members of the university, " whom 
the great ones of our age, such as Reuchlin 
and Erasmus, so highly extol ?" Even Luther 
himself, when first introduced to him, could 
hardly conceal his disappointment. But when, 
four days after his arrival, the young professor 
delivered his inaugural discourse, he spoke 
such elegant Latin, and manifested so much 
learning, so cultivated an understanding, and 
such sound judgment, that all his auditors 
were astonished. Among those who crowded 
around him to offer their congratulations, no 
one felt more delighted than Luther. He 
hastened to communicate to his friends the 



190 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

sentiments of his heart. Writing to Spalatin, 
he said, " The oration of Melancthon was so 
learned and beautiful, that it was heard by 
all with approbation and astonishment. We 
soon got over the prejudices we had conceived 
from his first appearance, and unitedly extol 
and admire his eloquence. W^e thank the 
prince and yourself for the service you have 
done us. I can wish for no better Greek pro- 
fessor." 

From this period Luther and Melancthon 
were very special and devoted friends. They 
were almost always together, and were the 
more necessary to each other on account of the 
great difference in their natural constitutional 
temperaments and dispositions. " Melancthon 
was as remarkable for his prudence and gen- 
tleness, as Luther was for his impetuosity and 
energy. Luther communicated vigour to Me- 
lancthon; Melancthon moderated Luther. They 
were," says one, '' like positive and negative 
agents in electricity, by whose reciprocal ac- 
tion an equilibrium is maintained." In this 
light the two friends seem to have regarded 
each other. "I," says Luther, " was born 
for struggling on the field of battle with par- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION* 191 

ties and devils. Thus it is that my writings 
breathe war and tempest. I must root up 
stock and stem, clear away thorns and bram- 
bles, and fill up swamps and sloughs. I am 
like the sturdy wood-cutter, who must clear 
and level the road. But our master Philip 
(Melancthon) goes forward quietly and gently, 
cultivating and planting, sowing and watering, 
according as God has dealt to him so liberally 
of his gifts." 

Melancthon had accompanied Luther to the 
disputation at Leipsic. He was there chiefly 
as a spectator and listener ; but he was a most 
deeply interested listener. Hitherto he had 
applied himself almost exclusively to literature. 
These discussions imparted to him a new im- 
pulse, and launched him, at once, into the 
deeps of theology. From that hour he bowed 
the heights of his learning before the teachings 
of the divine word, and received the evangeli- 
cal doctrine with the simplicity of a little child. 
From that hour, the two friends found them- 
selves united in sympathies and labours, in a 
manner and to a degree unknown before. 

The discussions at Leipsic had a powerful 
influence, not only on those who listened to 



192 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

them, but on the disputants themselves. The 
inquiries into which Luther was driven dis- 
covered to him, more clearly than before, the 
rottenness of the whole papal system. Search- 
ing, as he was now compelled to do, into the 
annals of the church, he found that the boasted 
supremacy of Rome had no other foundation 
than the ambition of one party and the credu- 
lous ignorance of another. " For seven years 
previous," says he, " I had read and expounded 
the Scriptures with so much zeal, that I knew 
them almost all by heart. I had also the first 
fruits of the knowledge and faith of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; and I openly maintained that it 
is not by divine right that the pope is chief 
of the Christian church. And yet, I could 
not see the conclusion from all this, namely, 
that of necessity, and beyond doubt, the pope 
is of the devil. For what is not of God must 
needs be of the devil. So hard it is to unlearn 
errors, which the whole world confirms by its 
example, and which, by long use, have become 
to us as a second nature." 

The principal influence of the discussion 
upon Dr. Eck was, to irritate and inflame him. 
While he boasted of victory, he evidently felt 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 193 

the sting and the malice of conscious defeat. 
He exerted what influence he could to induce 
the elector to banish the reformers from his 
dominions. *' Let us exterminate these ver- 
min," said he, "before they have multiplied 
beyond all bounds." He published a tract in 
opposition to Melancthon, to which the learned 
professor replied with the most exquisite urba- 
nity and skill. This was the first of Me- 
lancthon's theological writings. Finding that 
the more he exerted himself in Germany, the 
more obnoxious he became to his countrymen, 
Eck formed the resolution of crossing the 
Alps ; that he might effect the destruction of 
those, by the power of Rome, whom he could 
not overcome by discussion and argument. 

It was at this time that Luther published the 
first edition of his Commentary on the Gala- 
tians. This was greatly surpassed by the 
subsequent editions ; but even in this he set 
forth with much power the doctrine of justifi- 
cation by faith, and vindicated the doctrine 
with equal power against the imputation of 
being unfavourable to love and good works. 
"If thou lovest him who hath made thee a 
present of twenty florins, or rendered thee any 
17 



194 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

service, or testified in any other way his affec- 
tion towards thee, how much more shouldst 
thou love him who hath given for thee, not 
gold or silver, but himself; who hath received 
for thee so many wounds ; who hath under- 
gone for thy sake an agony and sweat of blood ; 
who, in thy stead, hath suffered death ; who, 
in discharge of thy sins, hath swallowed up 
death, and procured for thee a Father in hea- 
ven full of love ! If thou dost not love him, 
thy heart hath not yet entered into or under- 
stood the things which he hath done. Thou 
hast not believed them ; for faith worketh by 
love." 

The sacrament of the Lord's supper began 
now to occupy the thoughts of Luther. He 
preached on the subject, and published his dis- 
course, in which he advocated the administra- 
tion of the ordinance in both kinds, and in- 
sisted that without faith in tlie heart of him 
who received it, the mere partaking of the 
supper could be of no benefit. This was 
touching the priests of Rome in a tender point ; 
and (as might have been expected) the dis- 
course roused up afresh the cry of heresy. 
<* He is a Hussite ! a Wickliffite ! a reviver of 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 195 

the odious doctrine of Prague !" Some would 
even have it that he was born in Bohemia, and 
of Bohemian parents. This report became 
so current, especially among his enemies at 
Dresden and Leipsic, that Luther thought pro- 
per to publish a tract, giving an account of his 
origin and pedigree. " I was born at Eisle- 
ben," said he, '' and was baptized in the church 
of St. Peter. I was never in my life any 
nearer to Bohemia than Dresden." 

Thus, while Luther was gradually advancing 
in knowledge, and assailing, one after another, 
the corruptions of Rome, he was preparing the 
way for that stroke of excision which (as we 
shall see) was soon to fall upon him, and sepa- 
rate him from this idolatrous church forever. 



196 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Charles V. chosen Emperor of Germany — Luther writes 
to him — Luther's works condemned by the universities 
of Cologne and Louvain — Luther on good works — 
His appeal to the German nation — Discourse on the 
mass — On the '* Babylonian Captivity of the Church" 
— Melancthon's marriage — Eck goes to Rome and 
procures a bull of excommunication against Luther — 
Miltitz still anxious to effect a reconciliation — Per- 
suades Luther to write to the pope — His letter and 
tract on Christian liberty — The excommunication 
disregarded in Germany — Luther's reply to the bull — 
He renews his appeal to a general council — He burns 
the pope's bull, with the decretals, the canon law, &c. 

The year following the death of the Empe- 
ror Maximilian, the electors of Germany as- 
sembled at Frankfort, to choose a successor. 
The occasion was one of high interest and im- 
portance to all Europe. The principal candi- 
dates for the imperial crown were Charles V., 
grandson of the late emperor, who already- 
governed the Netherlands, Spain, Sicily, Na- 
ples and Austria, and Francis I., King of 
France. Passing by both these, the electors 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 197 

first laid the crown at the feet of one of their 
own number, the friend of Luther, the Elector 
of Saxony. But he, through perhaps an ex- 
cess of prudence, thought proper to decline it. 
** There is need," said he, "in present circum- 
stances, of an emperor more powerful than 
myself, to save Germany. The Turk is at 
our gates. The King of the Netherlands and 
Spain, whose hereditary possessions in Austria 
border on the menaced frontier, is its natural 
defender." 

It was chiefly in consequence of the recom- 
mendation of Frederic that Charles V. obtained 
the crown. The Spanish envoys offered the 
elector 30,000 gold florins, in token of their 
master's gratitude ; but he promptly rejected 
the gift, and prohibited his ministers from 
accepting any present. The coronation of 
Charles, as Emperor of Germany, took place 
on the 22d of October, 1520. 

Before the coronation, Luther took the pre- 
caution to write to Charles an humble and sub- 
missive letter. *'If," said he, "the cause I 
defend is worthy of appearing before the throne 
of the Majesty of heaven, it surely is not un- 
worthy of engaging the attention of a prince 
17* 



198 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

of this world. O, Charles ! thou prince among 
the kings of the earth ! I throw myself, as a 
suppliant, at the feet of your most serene ma- 
jesty, and conjure you to deign to receive 
under the shadow of your wings, not me, but 
the cause of that eternal truth, for the defence 
of which God has intrusted you with the 
sword." To this most respectful letter, the 
young monarch returned no answer. He 
threw it aside, probably, as beneath his notice. 
While Luther was in vain supplicating the 
favour of the new emperor, the storm seemed 
to thicken around him in Germany. Hoch- 
straten, a Dominican and inquisitor of Cologne, 
between whom and Luther there had been al- 
ready more than one encounter, extracted cer- 
tain theses from his writings, which he per- 
suaded the universities of Cologne and Louvain 
to condemn as heretical. This produced much 
excitement, at the time, in Germany, and led 
to some attempts upon the reformer's life. The 
elector, also, received repeated letters from 
Rome — some of them of the most urgent cha- 
racter — requesting him to withhold his pro- 
tection from Luther, and give him over to the 
power of his enemies. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 199 

But while many were seeking the life of 
the reformer, others were raised up and pre- 
pared to defend him. The elector, though 
cautiously forbearing to commit himself fully 
to the cause of the Reformation, yet resolutely 
refused to abandon Luther. Several powerful 
German knights also wrote to Luther, of their 
own accord, inviting him to repair to their cas- 
tles, and take refuge under their arms. It is inte- 
resting to see how different were their views, 
as to the means of defending and promoting 
the gospel, from those which actuated the re- 
former. " Wc want," said one of them, writ- 
ing to Luther — '• we want swords, bows, jave- 
lins and bombs, in order to repel the fury of 
the devil." But Lather replied, "I will not 
resort to arms and bloodshed, for the defence 
of the gospel. It is by the preaching of the 
word that the world has been conquered. By 
the word the church has been saved ; by the 
word, also, it will be restored." 

Relying thus confidently upon the power of 
the divine word, Luther laboured incessantly, 
in the midst of all his perils, to diffuse it. He 
published, at this time, his discourse on good 
works, which he dedicated to Duke John, the 



200 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

elector's brother. Of all his works, Luther 
seems to have regarded this as the best ; because 
that in it he opens, most powerfully, the great 
doctrine of justification by faith. '*No one," 
says Melancthon, ''among all the Greek and 
Latin writers, has come nearer to the spirit of 
St. Paul than Luther in this discourse." 

In June of this year, 1520, Luther published 
another work of great power and boldness, and 
which produced much effect. It was entitled, 
'* An Appeal to his Imperial Majesty and the 
Christian Nobility of the German Nation, con- 
cerning the Reformation of Christianity." In 
his introduction, the reformer says, " It is not 
rashly and without consideration, that I, a man 
of the common people, take upon myself to ad- 
dress your highnesses. The misery and op- 
pression which, at this hour, weigh down all 
Christian states, and more especially Germany, 
wring from me a cry of distress. I find myself 
compelled to call for help. I must see if God 
will not give his Spirit to some one or other 
of our countrymen, and thus stretch forth his 
hand to save our wretched nation. God has 
placed over us a young and generous monarch, 
and thus filled our hearts with high hopes. But 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 201 

we ourselves must, on our part, do all that it is 
possible for us to do." 

" The Romanists," continued Luther, *' have 
raised three barriers against all attempts at re- 
formation. When the temporal power has 
attacked them, they have denied its authority, 
and asserted that the spiritual power was above 
it. When any one has rebuked them out of 
the Scripture, they have replied that none but 
the pope was able to interpret Scripture. When 
they have been threatened with a council, the 
reply has been, that no one but the sovereign 
pontiff has authority to convoke a council. 
They have thus wrested from our hands the 
three rods destined to correct them, and have 
given the rein to all iniquity. But now may 
God help us, and give us one of those trumpets 
which overthrew the walls of Jericho. May 
God help us to tear down those paper walls 
which the Romanists have built around them, 
and lift up the scourges which punish the 
wicked, by exposing their stratagems and 
wiles." 

After such an exordium, Luther begins the 
assault. He first abjures the idea, that the ec- 
clesiastical and civil powers are so distinct, that 



202 MORNING or THE REFORMATION. 

the latter has no control over persons connected 
with the former. '' Why should not the ma- 
gistrate chastise the offending clergy? The 
secular power has been ordered by God for 
the punishment of evil-doers ; and free scope 
should be allowed for it to act tljroughout 
Christendom — let it touch pope, bishops, 
priests, monks, nuns, or whomsoever it may. 
St. Paul says, Let every aoul (consequently 
the pope and clergy) he subject to the higher 
powers,^'' Luther next attacks the wealth and 
magnificence of the pope and his cardinals, and 
exposes their wretched projects for procuring 
money, by which all Christendom had been 
impoverished and distressed. " If we want to 
march against Turks," says he, '' let us begin 
with those Turks who are the worst of all. If 
we hang thieves, and cut off the heads of bri- 
gands, let us not suffer the avarice of Rome to 
escape, which is the greatest of all robbers and 
thieves ; and that too in the name of St. Peter 
and of Jesus Christ." He calls upon the pope 
to lay aside his temporal dominions, to which 
he has no just claim, and take into his hands 
the Bible and prayer-book, and keep to his ap- 
propriate work of preaching and praying. He 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 203 

urges that no more cloisters may be built for 
mendicant friars. '' God knows we have 
enough already, and more than enough. Would 
to heaven they were all levelled with the 
ground ! Vagabonding through a country never 
has done, and never can do it any good." He 
condemns the forced celibacy of the clergy ; 
the numerous fasts and festivals of the church; 
the customary mode of treating heretics ; and 
the systems of education in the universities and 
schools. In short, Luther undertakes, in this 
treatise, to make clear and thorough work — to 
sweep the Augean stable of the papacy of all its 
corruptions and abominations. In conclusion, 
he says, '' I can easily believe that I may have 
held too high a tone ; that I may have proposed 
many things which will appear impossible, and 
attacked existing errors with too much vehe- 
mence. But what can I do ? Let the world 
be offended, rather than God ! They can but 
take my life. Again and again have I offered 
peace to my adversaries. But God has, by 
their own instruments, compelled me continu- 
ally to lift up a louder and a louder voice." 

This appeal of Luther soon reached all those 
for whom it was written. It spread through- 



204 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

out Germany with wonderful rapidity. His 
friends trembled and his enemies raved; but 
the writing meanwhile was producing its in- 
tended effect. The strong voice of Luther had 
aroused the nation, and prepared it to rally round 
the standard which he had raised. Even the 
elector's court, so timid and cautious, mani- 
fested no disapprobation, but waited in silence 
the result. 

Nearly at the same time with the publica- 
tion of his appeal, Luther prepared and pub- 
lished a discourse on the mass ; in which he 
declaimed against the numerous sects of the 
Romish church, and reproached her most just- 
ly for her want of unity. "The multiplicity 
of laws in matters of conscience has filled the 
world with sects and divisions. The hatred 
thence engendered between priests, monks and 
laity is even greater than that between Chris- 
tians and Turks. Nay more ; priests are mor- 
tal enemies to priests, and monks to monks. 
Each is devoted to his own sect or order, and 
despises all the rest. The unity and love of 
Christ are broken up and destroyed." 

This discourse on the mass was but a feeble 
missile, however, compared with one which 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 205 

was almost immediately to follow. In the be- 
ginning of October, 1520, Luther's famous 
tract on " The Babylonian Captivity of the 
Church" made its appearance. He commences 
by setting forth, with admirable irony, his high 
obligations to his enemies. " Whether I will 
or no," says he, " I am continually learning, 
urged on as I am by so many masters. Two 
years ago, I attacked indulgences ; but with 
such faltering indecision, that I am now 
ashamed of it." Having returned thanks to 
Prierias, to Eck, to Hochstraten, and his other 
adversaries, he proceeds, '' In the discussion 
at Leipsic, I denied that the papacy was from 
God, but admitted that it stood by human right. 
But now I know that the papacy is nothing but 
the reign of Babylon, and the violence of the 
mighty hunter, Nimrod. I therefore request 
my friends and my enemies, and all booksellers, 
that they will burn the books I have before 
written on the subject, and in their stead sub- 
stitute this single proposition: — The papacy 
is a grand hunting chase, led on by the Bishop 
of Rome, and having for its object the snar- 
ing and ruining of captured souls, ^^ Luther 
terminated his work on the '' Babylonian Cap- 
18 



206 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

tivity" with these words: "I hear that new 
papal bulls and anathemas have been concoct- 
ed against me. If so, let this book be regard- 
ed as a part of my future recantation. The 
rest will soon follow, and the whole will form 
such a recantation as Rome has never yet seen 
or heard of." 

While Luther was contending thus courage- 
ously and manfully against the enemies of the 
truth, his friend Melancthon was engaged in 
the more quiet pursuit of getting married. As 
he was not a priest, he had no obstacles of an 
ecclesiastical nature with which to contend ; 
and the matter was urged on with much earn- 
estness by his friends. They resolved that he 
should not be wedded to his books alone, but 
should admit at least a joint partner of his af- 
fections and interests. In the autumn of this 
year, 1520, he was married to Miss Catharine 
Krapp, daughter of one of the most respecta- 
ble citizens of Wittemberg. Old John Luther, 
with his wife and daughters, together with 
many learned and distinguished persons, at- 
tended the celebration of the nuptials. 

The wife of Melancthon was distinguished 
for mildness and gentleness of disposition, and 



MORxNlNG OB^ THE REFORMATION. 207 

for the excellence of her domestic character. 
At the same time, she was cautious and timid 
to a degree bordering on weakness. When- 
ever her husband proposed to take any step 
that was likely to compromise his safety, she 
would overwhelm him with entreaties to de- 
sist; to which entreaties he was often con- 
strained to yield. It is not unlikely that the 
timidity and caution for which Melancthon has 
been sometimes blamed, may be attributed in 
part to the influence of Catharine. 

The marriage of Melancthon was of service 
to the Reformation, in that it furnished a do- 
mestic hearth, around which all those were 
free to gather who were beginning to breathe 
the new life. The number of students who 
attended his lectures often amounted to two 
thousand, drawn together from nearly every 
country of Europe. The number of those who 
called on him, and partook more or less of his 
hospitality, was very great. His liberality to 
the poor and needy was most exemplary. When 
his money was spent, he would sell some por- 
tion of his table service, that so he might ac- 
quire the means of relieving the distressed. 
His extreme good nature exposed him, in some 



208 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

cases, to imposition. He had some ancient 
gold and silver medals, remarkable for their 
legends and impressions. As he was showing 
them, on some occasion, to a stranger, he said, 
" Take anyone of them that you would like." 
" I would like them all,''^ replied the stranger. 
"I own," says Philip, " that I was a little of- 
fended at his request; nevertheless, I gave them 
to him." 

But it is time to look away from Wittem- 
berg to Rome. After the discussion at Leip- 
sic, and the consequent contempt into which 
Dr. Eck fell in Germany, he formed the reso- 
lution to repair to Rome, that by his influence 
there, he might hasten the destruction of his 
indomitable adversary. But he had unantici- 
pated difficulties to contend with, even at Rome. 
The pontiff and cardinals had long dwelt in 
profound security. For many years, the monks 
had accused Leo X. of caring for nothing but 
luxury and pleasure, and of wasting his time 
in hunting, plays and music. It was difficult 
to arouse him to a sense of his danger, and to 
the importance of taking decisive measures. 
Besides, he might have had some motives of 
policy in the case. He saw that the violent 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 209 

measures already resorted to had only served 
to increase the evil ; and he hesitated as to the 
policy of pursuing them further. '* May not 
this intrepid monk, after all, be gained over ? 
Is it possible that the church's power, aided 
by Italian artifice, should be defeated ? Mil- 
titz is still in Germany, and further negotiation 
must be tried." Thus reasoned the more po- 
litic counsellors at Rome. But Eck and his 
party were resolved not to be foiled. They 
besieged the pope and the cardinals with fresh 
courage. All attempts at conciliation, they in- 
sisted, were useless. It was high time that 
the gangrened member were cut off, lest the 
disorder should spread throughout the body. 
For hours together, Eck continued in close de- 
liberation with the pontiff. He excited the 
court and the convents, the people and the 
church. In his daily walks through the streets, 
he vented his anger, and called aloud for ven- 
geance. '' Eck is moving against me," says 
Luther, '' the lowest depths of hell. He has 
set the forests of Lebanon in a blaze." At 
length, he succeeded in his bloody object. 
The politic counsellors were overborne ; Leo 
began to yield ; the condemnation of Luther 
18^ 



210 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

was determined on ; and Eck breathed more 
freely. 

But a new difficulty arose at the papal court. 
Eck and his party proposed immediately to 
fulminate the sentence of excommunication ; 
but the civilians objected to so much precipi- 
tancy. '' The culprit," they said, " must be 
cited before he is sentenced. Was not Adam 
cited before he was condemned ? 'Adam where 
art thou?' In the instance of Cain, likewise : 
'Where is thy brother Abel V asked the Eter- 
nal." But these singular arguments from holy 
writ had no weight with the theologians of the 
assembly, who were intent on accomplishing 
the work they had undertaken in a summary 
way. It was finally agreed that Luther's doc- 
trine should be condemned immediately ; and 
that as to himself and his adherents, a term of 
sixty days should be granted them ; after which, 
if they did not recant, they should all be at 
once excommunicated. 

It was on the loth of June, that the sacred 
college agreed on the condemnation, and gave 
their approbation of a bull to that effect, com- 
mencing as follows : " Arise, O Lord ! and re- 
member the reproaches wherewith fools re- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 211 

proach thee, all the day long. Arise, O Peter ! 
and remember thy holy Roman church, the 
mother of all the churches and mistress of the 
faith. Arise, O Paul ! for a new Porphyry is 
here, attacking thy doctrines, and the holy 
popes, our predecessors. Arise, O assembly 
of all the saints ! holy church of God ! and in- 
tercede for us with God Almighty !" The 
pope, having cited forty-one propositions of 
Luther, and condemning them as pernicious, 
scandalous and corrupt, proceeds as follows : 
*' The bishops are to search diligently for the 
writings of Luther, in which these errors are 
contained, and to burn them publicly and so- 
lemnly, in the presence of the clergy and of the 
laity. As to Martin himself, what is there, in 
the name of heaven, that we have not done ? 
Imitating the goodness of the Almighty, we 
are ready to receive him again into the bosom 
of the church ; and we allow him sixty days, 
in which to forward to us his recantation in 
writing, attested by two prelates. Meanwhile, 
he must, from this moment, cease preaching, 
teaching, and writing, and commit his works 
to the flames. And if he do not recant, within 
sixty days, we do, by these presents, sentence 



212 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

him and his adherents, as open and contuma- 
cious heretics." The pope concludes with a 
long train of excommunications, maledictions, 
and interdicts against Luther, and all his par- 
tisans, with orders to seize their persons and 
send them to Rome. 

After the publication of this bull, but before 
it was received or known in Germany, Miltitz 
set on foot another negotiation, with a view to 
the reconciliation of Luther to Rome. He at- 
tended a general meeting of the Augustinian 
friars, and persuaded them to send a deputa- 
tion to Luther. All he required now was, that 
Luther should write a letter to the pope, as- 
suring him that he had never laid any plots 
against his person. '' That will suffice," said 
he, " to terminate the whole affair." Luther 
had no kind of objection to writing such a let- 
ter as this, though he seems to have had little 
confidence in its efficacy. After the news of 
the bull had been received in Germany, he was 
quite discouraged, and declined wTiting alto- 
gether ; but Miltitz sought an interview with 
him, and persuaded him to make another effort. 
The principal object of Miltitz in these final 
endeavours was, if possible, to disappoint and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 213 

humble Eck. As this blustering agitator had 
been chiefly instrumental in procuring the bull 
of excommunication, so he was the appointed 
messenger to introduce it into Saxony. And 
not only so, he was already in the neighbour- 
hood, holding in his hands the formidable in- 
strument, which he boasted was to extinguish 
the Lutheran Reformation. Miltitz desired, 
if possible, to disappoint him, and to extinguish 
the Reformation in a different way. He urged 
Luther to write the proposed letter to the pope, 
and to renew his former agreement as to de- 
sisting from the controversy ; to all which Lu- 
ther at length consented. " I promise to keep 
silence," said he, " if my adversaries will but 
do the same. At least I will do all I can to 
maintain it." Miltitz was overjoyed at his 
success. He heaped attentions and flatteries 
upon Luther, and wrote at once to the elector, 
assuring him that the difficulties would soon 
be settled. 

In fulfilment of his promise, Luther sat 
down to write once more to the pontiff. It 
was the last effort of this kind that he was 
ever to make. His letter has been differently 
characterized by different persons ; some re- 



214 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

garding it as a bitter and insulting satire, and 
Others as made up of forced and hypocritical 
concessions. But, in reality, it was neither 
the one nor the other ; but rather a message of 
solemn warning, designed and adapted to stir 
up the mind of the pontiff to a serious investi- 
gation and correction of abuses. He com- 
mences by saying, that though he had been 
compelled to appeal from the Roman see to a 
future general council, yet he harboured not the 
least ill-will towards the pope, but continually 
prayed to God to bestow upon him every kind 
of blessing. He owns that he had treated the 
impious doctrines of his adversaries with much 
severity ; but this he could not regret, since 
he had Christ himself for an example. " Of 
what use," he asks, *• is salt, if it hath lost its 
savour, or the blade of a sword, if it doth not 
cut ? Cursed be he who doeth the Lord's 
work coldly. It is true that I have attacked 
the court of Rome. But neither yourself nor 
any man living can deny that the corruption of 
your court is greater than that of Sodom or 
Gomorrah, and that there is no hope left of 
curing its impiety. For many years past, it 
has inundated the world with every thing de- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 215 

structive to soul and body. The church of 
Rome, once pre-eminent for sanctity, is become 
a den of thieves, a scene of open prostitution, 
a kingdom of death and hell, so that antichrist 
himself could not increase its iniquity. And 
you, O Leo, are all this while as a iamb in 
the midst of wolves ; or as Daniel in the den 
of lions. Unaided, how can you resist these 
monsters ? 

" Full of affection for you, I have always 
regretted that you were raised to the pontificate 
at such a period as this. Rome is not worthy 
of you, or of any other ruler than Satan himself. 
Indeed, it is he, rather than you, who reigns in 
that Babylon. O Leo ! Leo ! You are the 
most unfortunate of men; and you sit on the 
most perilous of all thrones ! I tell you the 
truth, not because I hate you, but because I 
wish you well." 

''Is it not true that there is nothing under 
heaven more corrupt and hateful than the Ro- 
man court ? It exceeds the very Turks in vice 
and profligacy. Once as the gate of heaven, it 
is now as the jaws of hell, distended and kept 
open by the wrath of God ; and when I behold 
so many poor creatures plunging themselves 



216 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

into it, I must needs cry aloud and spare not, 
that some may be saved from the frightful 
abyss. This, O my father, is the reason why 
I have inveighed so strongly against the Romish 
see. Far from conspiring against your person, 
I have felt that I was labouring for your safety, 
in boldly attacking the prison, or rather the hell 
in which you are confined." 

Luther proceeds to represent to his holiness 
the treatment he had received from Cardinal 
Cajetan ; and how the endeavours of Miltitz 
to bring about a reconciliation had been defeat- 
ed by the vain-glorious interference of Dr. 
Eck. ''Upon him," says he, ''must lie the 
blame of that defeat which has covered Rome 
with shame. Now then, holy father, I come 
to you, and entreat you to restrain, if possible, 
the enemies of peace. I cannot retract my 
doctrines ; neither can I consent that rules of 
interpretation should be forced upon the Holy 
Scriptures. The word of God, the source of 
all liberty, must itself be left free. These two 
points being granted, there is nothing that I 
cannot most willingly either do or suffer." 

Luther accompanied his letter to the pope 
with a little book, on the subject of " Christian 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 217 

Liberty ;" in which he shows, that though the 
true Christian has been delivered from the bond- 
age of corruption, and brought into that liberty 
with which Christ makes his people free, still 
he may, and he should, submit to every right- 
ful, external ordinance, for the Lord's sake. 
He should become all things for the good of 
his neighbour, as Christ has become all things 
for him. 

While the bold reformer was thus addressing 
himself, for the last time, to the Roman pontiff, 
the terrible bull of excommunication was already 
in the hands of the dignitaries of the German 
church, and at the doors of Luther's dwelling. 
As remarked already. Dr. Eck was the appointed 
herald and agent for the promulgation of the 
bull in Saxony, and he was advancing v/ith 
great pomp and pride for the execution of his 
dread commission. He seemed to imagine 
himself the mighty Adas, bearing upon his 
shoulders the whole Roman world. But his 
pride was destined to be soon humbled. His 
appointment to the office of nuncio created an 
almost universal dissatisfaction in Germany. 
The bull itself was thought by many to be the 
production rather of Eck than of the pontiff; 
19 



218 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION 

and, as sucli, was utterly disregarded. And 
where its authority was acknowledged, the 
work of publishing it was attended with much 
difficulty and delay. Even at Leipsic, Duke 
George forbade its publication, till an order to 
that effect should be received from the bishop ; 
which order did not arrive till the following 
year. 

While Eck remained at Leipsic on this busi- 
ness, the students of the university undertook 
to insult him, at which he fled for refuge to a 
convent, and was so much affrighted that he 
trembled in every limb. He afterwards quitted 
his retreat by night, and fled clandestinely to 
Coburg. On hearing this, Luther said, " I do 
not wish him to be killed ; but I really hope he 
may be frustrated in his designs." At Erfurth 
the students seized the copies of his bull, tore 
them in pieces, and threw them into the river, 
saying, " Since it is a bubble, (bulla,) let us 
see it float." Eck did not dare to show him- 
self at Wittemberg, but sent the bull to the 
prior, threatening him, in case it were not pub- 
lished, with the ruin of the university. But 
the prior declared, that not having received 
any communication from the pope on the sub- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 219 

ject, he must decline its publication. Such 
was the reception which the condemnation of 
Luther met with from the learned world. 

The manner in which Luther himself re- 
garded the proceeding varied, according to the 
state of his feelings. Sometimes he ridiculed 
the whole matter, and treated it with contempt. 
'*! know nothing of Eck's movements," said 
he, *"* except that he has arrived, with a long 
beard, a long bull, and a long purse. But I 
laugh at the whole of them." At other times 
he felt the dangers of his situation, and was 
inclined to treat the subject with greater serious- 
ness. " What is about to happen, I know not, 
nor do I care to know, assured as I am that he 
who sits on the throne of heaven has from all 
eternity foreseen the beginning, the progress, 
and the end of this affair. Let the blow alight 
where it may, I am without fear. Not so 
much as a leaf falls without the will of our 
Father. How much rather will he care for 
us. It is a light thing to die for the Word, 
since the Word which was made flesh hath 
himself died. If we die with him, we shall 
live with him ; and passing through that which 



220 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

he has passed through before us, we shall be 
where he is, and dwell with him forever." 

It was on the third of October that the papal 
rescript came into the hands of Luther. "At 
last," said he, "this Roman bull has been re- 
ceived. I despise it, and resist it, as impious 
and false, and every way worthy of Eck. It 
is Christ himself who is therein condemned. 
No reasons are given in it. I am cited to ap- 
pear, not that I may be heard, but that I may 
recant. I will treat it as a forgery, although 1 
believe it to be genuine. I glory in the pros- 
pect of suffering for the best of causes. Already 
I feel in my heart more liberty : For I now 
know that the pope is Antichrist, and that his 
chair is that of Satan himself." 

The eyes of all Germany were now turned 
anxiously towards the reformer. "What will 
he do? Will he succumb and recant, in view 
of the danger? Or will he stand firm?" He 
did not keep the public long in suspense. On 
the 4th of November he discharged his artil- 
lery, in his work " Against the Bull of Anti- 
christ." "I can discern the difference," said 
he, in this tract, " between skill and malice, 
and I care very little for malice that is so 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 221 

unskilful. To burn books is an act so easy, 
* that even children may perform it. How much 
more the holy father and his illustrious doctors ! 
One would have looked for some more cun- 
ning move. Besides; for aught I care, let 
them destroy my books. 1 desire nothing 
better; for all I wanted was to lead Christians 
to the Bible, that they might afterwards throw 
away my writings. If we had but a right un- 
derstanding of the Scriptures, what need would 
there be of my books? By God's grace I am 
now free ; and bulls can neither soothe nor in- 
timidate me. My strength and my consola- 
tion are in a place where neither men nor 
devils can ever reach them." 

But though the pope's anathemas at the 
first were disregarded, they soon began, in 
some places, to take effect. The word of the 
pontiff still carried force. The stake was still 
fixed and the fagots piled at his bidding, and 
fire and torture compelled submission. Every 
thing seemed to announce that an awful catastro- 
phe was about to put an end to the audacious 
rebellion of the Augustine monk. In many 
places scaffolds were raised for the purpose 
of committing the writings of the heretic to the 
19^ 



222 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 

flames, and ecclesiastical dignitaries and coun- 
sellors of state were present at the burning. 
In a few cases, however, these burnings as- 
sumed somewhat of a ridiculous character. 
The doctors of Lou vain, for example, raised a 
vast pile of wood, and called upon the people 
to bring in the proscribed books. In obedience 
to the call, students and citizens were seen 
making their way through the crowd, carrying 
huge volumes under their arms, which they 
hurled into the flames. Their apparent zeal 
greatly edified the monks and doctors ; but the 
stratagem was soon discovered. The writings 
of Luther were spared, while great quantities 
of scholastic and popish works were destroyed. 
Luther felt, however, as though some more 
decisive acts on his part were called for, than 
any which had yet been performed. The 
pope had placed him under the ban of the 
church ; he was resolved to place the pope 
under the ban of Christianity. The sentence 
of the pontiff had hitherto been absolute ; he 
would now oppose sentence to sentence, that 
the world might see which was the word of 
power. He forthwith took steps to renew his 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 223 

appeal to a general council ; which he did, on 
the 17th of November, in the words following : 

'' Forasmuch as a general council of the 
Christian church is superior to the pope, espe- 
cially in matters of faith : Forasmuch as the 
authority of the pope is inferior to that of 
Scripture, and he has no right to slay Christ's 
sheep and cast them into the jaws of the wolf: 
1, Martin Luther, Doctor of the Holy Scrip- 
tures at Wittemberg, on my own behalf, and 
on behalf of such as stand or shall stand on 
my side, do, by this instrument, appeal from 
his holiness. Pope Leo, to a general Christian 
council, hereafter to be held. 

" I appeal from the aforesaid Pope Leo, 
first, as an unjust judge, who condemns me, 
without having given me a hearing, and with- 
out declaring the grounds of his judgment: 
Secondly, as a heretic and apostate, misguided, 
hardened, and condemned by holy writ, who 
requires me to deny the necessity of Christian 
faith in the use of the sacraments : Thirdly, 
as an enemy, an antichrist, an adversary of the 
Scriptures, and a usurper of their authority, 
who presumes to set up his own decrees against 
the declarations of the divine word : And 



224 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

fourthly, as a contemner, calumniator and blas- 
phemer of the holy Christian church, and of 
every free council, who asserts that a council 
is nothing in itself." 

He concludes with calling upon '' the empe- 
ror, the electors, princes, counts, barons, 
knights, gentlemen, cities and municipalities 
of the whole German nation," to adhere to his 
protest, and unite with him to resist the anti- 
christian proceedings of the pope. "But if 
there be any," says he, ** who set my entrea- 
ties at naught, and prefer to obey the pope 
rather than God, I do hereby disavow all re- 
sponsibility on their account, and leave them, 
together with the pope and all his adherents, 
after this solemn warning, to the final judg- 
ment of the Almighty," 

One would have thought that a protest such as 
this, which was speedily circulated throughout 
Christendom, was an act sufficiently bold and 
decisive. But it did not satisfy the mind of 
Luther. He determined that in nothing would 
he fall behind Rome. Whatever the sovereign 
pontiff essays to do against him, he will do 
against the pontiff. Sentence against sentence 
he has already pronounced ; he will now kin- 



■I 




IIJTHER BTTRSIFC THE POPES BULL . 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 225 

die pile for pile. Accordingly, on the 10th 
of December, at early dawn, a placard was 
affixed to the walls of the university at Wit- 
temberg, inviting the professors and students 
to meet, at nine in the morning, at the east 
gate, beside the holy cross. A vast number 
of doctors and youths assembled ; and Luther, 
putting himself at their head, led the proces- 
sion to the appointed spot. A scaffold had 
been erected and the wood prepared ; and one 
of the oldest among the masters of arts ap- 
proached and set fire to it. As the flames 
arose Luther drew nigh, and cast into the midst 
of them the canon law, the decretals and ex- 
travagants of the popes, the Clementines, and 
a portion of the works of Dr. Eck. When 
these had been reduced to ashes, Luther took 
the pope's bull in his hand, held it up, and said 
with a loud voice, " Since thou hast afflicted 
the Lord's Holy One, (Christ,) may fire un- 
quenchable afflict and consume thee." Where- 
upon he threw it into the flames. He then, 
with much composure, put himself again at 
the head of the procession, and bent his steps 
towards the city ; the crowd of doctors, pro- 



226 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 



fessors and students returning, with loud ap- 
plause, in his train. 

By this act Luther distinctly proclaimed his 
separation from the papal church. He accepted 
the excommunication which Rome had pro- 
nounced. He declared, in the face of all 
Christendom, that between him and the pope 
there was henceforth to be \var, even to the 
death. ** Hitherto," said he, *'I have been 
only jesting with the pope. The mighty 
struggle is but just begun. I entered upon 
this work in the name of God ; and God will 
bring it to a close by his own power. If they 
dare to burn my books, of which it is no vain 
boast to say that they contain more of the gos- 
pel than all the pope's books put together, I 
may with far better reason burn theirs, which 
are wholly worthless." 

On the morning after the burning above de- 
scribed, Luther lectured as usual in the hall of 
the university, which was excessively crowded. 
When his discourse was finished, he paused 
for a moment, and then said, "I warn you to 
be on your guard against the laws and statutes 
of the pope. I have burned the decretals, but 
that is mere child's play. It is time, and more 
than time, that the papal see, with all its cor- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 227 

ruptions and abominations, was overturned." 
Assuming then a more solemn tone, he pro- 
ceeded, **If you do not, with your whole 
hearts, resist the impious usurpation of the 
pope, you cannot be saved. Whoever takes 
pleasure in the popish doctrine and worship will 
assuredly be lost to all eternity. True, if we 
reject that false creed, we must expect to en- 
counter every kind of danger; but far better 
expose ourselves to danger in the present 
world than to hold our peace. For my own 
part, I will never cease to warn my brethren 
of the wound and the plague of Babylon, lest 
any of those who now walk with us should 
backslide into the pit of hell." 

This was new and solemn doctrine to those 
who heard it. They had often been told that 
there was no salvation out of the Romish 
church ; they were now led to fear that there 
was none in it. Especially were they led to 
fear, if, after " having been once enlightened, 
and made partakers of the heavenly gift," they 
should fall again into the errors of Rome, their 
fall would be irretrievable and eternal ; since 
by such an act they would ''crucify to them- 
selves the Son of God afresh, and put him to 
an open shame." 



228 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Melancthon's Discourse to the States of the Empire — 
Luther's " retractations" — The elector refuses to give 
up Luther — Erasmus's opinion of Luther — Luther's 
advice to the penitents — Proves that the papacy is 
Antichrist — Increasing popularity of the reformers at 
Wittemberg— Staupitz alarmed, and begins to draw 
back — Luther's letters — Diet at Worms, in 1 52 1 — A 
new bull of excommunication against Luther — Money 
sent from Rome to the diet—Aleander, the pope's 
legate, seeks to effect the destruction of Luther in his 
absence — The Catholic members of the diet demand 
a redress of grievances — A list of grievances present- 
ed — Aleander tries to prevent the appearance of Lu- 
ther at the diet — The feelings of Luther at this time. 

The proceedings detailed at the close of the 
last chapter mark an important epoch in the 
history of the Reformation. In his heart Lu- 
ther had been alienated from the pope, by the 
dispute relative to his supremacy, at Leipsic. 
But at the moment when he burned the decre- 
tals and the bull, he declared, in the most im- 
pressive manner, his separation from the pope 
and his church, and his adherence to the church 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 229 

universal, as founded by the apostles of Christ. 
At the east gate of Wittemberg he kindled a 
flame which three centuries have not been able 
to extinguish. 

The' undaunted spirit which animated Lu- 
ther was speedily communicated to his friends 
and countrymen. Melancthon, about this time, 
addressed a Discourse to the States of the 
Empire, which, for elegance of style and 
strength of reasoning, is worthy of its estima- 
ble author. After having proved from Scrip- 
ture that the pope is not superior to other bi- 
shops, he inquires of the States, "What hinders 
us from depriving the pope of that authority 
with which we have invested him ? Recollect 
that you are Christians, princes of a Christian 
nation ; and hasten, I beseech you, to rescue 
the piteous wa^eck of Christianity from the 
tyrannous hand of Antichrist. They who would 
persuade you that you have no jurisdiction over 
these priests are deceiving you grossly. Let 
the same spirit that animated Jehu against the 
priests of Baal urge you, by that memorable 
example, to crush the Romish superstition ; a 
superstition more detestable, by far, than the 
idolatry of Baal itself." Such was the lan» 
30 



230 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

guage in which the mild Melancthon thought 
proper to address the princes of Germany. 

Some of the friends of the Reformation were 
alarmed at the steps which had been taken, and 
gave utterance to their feelings of concern and 
terror. Among these was Luther's earliest 
religious friend and spiritual father, Staupitz. 
But in writing to him, Luther gave no intima- 
tions of concession or conciliation. " All that 
has been done as yet," said he, " is mere play. 
The tumult is continually growing more and 
more tumultuous. The papacy has ceased to 
be what it was yesterday, and the day before. 
Excommunicate me, and burn my writings, it 
may — ay, and put me to death ; but the Re- 
formation which is now going forward it can 
never stop. When I burned the bull, it was 
with inward fear and trembling ; but I now look 
back upon that act with greater pleasure than 
upon any passage of my life." 

It was matter of reproach against Luther 
with some, that he stood comparatively alone. 
" But who knows," he asks, '' whether God 
has not called me, and chosen me, for this very 
purpose ; and whether those that despise me 
have not reason to fear lest they be found 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 231 

despisers of God himself? Moses was alone 
when the Israelites were led out of Egypt; 
Elijah was alone in the time of Ahab; Eze« 
kiel was alone in Babylon. God has never 
chosen for his prophet either the high-priest, 
or any other person of exalted rank ; but gene- 
rally men of a mean and low condition, as in 
the case of Amos, who was a simple shepherd. 
I say not that I am a prophet ; but of this I am 
sure, that the word of God is with me, and 
not with my enemies." 

As Lather had long and often been urged to 
retract, he published, at this time, what he 
called his retractations. ''In deference to the 
holy and learned bull," said he, '' I now retract 
much that I have advanced on the subject of 
indulgences. If my books deserve to be burn- 
ed, it is because they contain concessions to 
the pope in respect to that doctrine of indul- 
gences ; on which account I myself now con- 
demn them to the flames." 

Then follows another retractation in respect 
to John Huss. " I now say, not (as formerly) 
that some of the articles propounded by Huss 
are orthodox, but that they all are so. The 
pope, in condemning Huss, condemned the gos- 



232 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

pel. I have gone five times as far as he, and 
yet I greatly fear that I have not gone far 
enough. Huss says that a wicked pope is not 
a member of the Christian church ; but I say, 
that were St. Peter himself now seated in the 
Romish chair, I should deny that he was pope 
by divine appointment." 

The elector was not in Saxony, at the time 
when the excommunication of Luther was re- 
ceived there, but at Aix la Chapelle, where he 
had gone to attend the coronation of Charles 
V. When the ceremony was over, he accom- 
panied the emperor to Cologne, where he re- 
mained some little time. During his absence, 
the question was often and anxiously revolved, 
" What course will the elector take, in regard 
to this bull of excommunication ? Will he con- 
cur in the execution of it, or will he disregard 
it ? Will he protect the reformer, or will he 
abandon him ?" 

These questions were more easily asked 
than answered. The cautious Frederic had not 
yet committed himself to the cause of the Refor- 
mation ; and his circumstances abroad were not 
at all favourable to his receiving correct impres- 
sions in regard to it. The pope had two power- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 233 

fill legates in attendance at the coronation, 
who would exert all their influence with the 
emperor, the German princes, and especially 
with Frederic, to effect the destruction of the 
excommunicated heretic. These legates (of 
whom the violent Aleander was one) first ex- 
erted themselves to procure the burning of Lu- 
ther's writings ; but this, they were reminded, 
was a very small matter. " Do you imagine," 
it was asked, " that the doctrines of Luther 
exist only in those books which you are com- 
mitting to the flames ? These doctrines are 
deeply engraven where you cannot obliterate 
them — in the minds and hearts of the German 
nation. If you mean to employ force, you 
must destroy more than one or two. Myriads 
of swords must be unsheathed, and multitudes 
of victims must be slaughtered. A pile of 
fagots, to burn a few sheets of paper, will be of 
no avail ; nor does it become the dignity either 
of the emperor or of the sovereign pontiff" to 
employ such weapons." Nevertheless, Alean- 
der clung to his fagots. " These flames that 
we kindle," said he, " are a sentence of con- 
demnation, conspicuous far and wide — legible 
even to such as can read no other." 
20* 



234 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

The new emperor, although he had consent- 
ed to the burning of Luther's books, refused to 
give sentence against his life, until the consent 
of the German princes, and especially of the 
elector Frederic, should be obtained. The 
whole influence of the legates was, therefore, 
brought to bear upon Frederic, to bring him to 
consent to the destruction of Luther. '' Con- 
sider," said Aleander, '' the infinite peril into 
which this man is plunging the Christian com- 
monwealth. Unless a remedy is speedily ap- 
plied, the fate of the empire is sealed. Why 
has the empire of the Greeks been destroyed, 
but because they refused submission to the 
pope ? You cannot join yourself to Luther, 
without being dissevered from Christ. In the 
name of his hoHness, I demand of you two 
things : first, that you cause Luther's writings 
to be burned ; and secondly, that you inflict 
upon the heretic the punishment he deserves, 
or else that you send him a prisoner to Rome." 

To these insolent demands the elector re- 
plied with his usual calmness : '' This is a 
matter of too much importance to be decided 
instantly. Our determination in regard to it 
shall be communicated to you in due time." 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 235 

The position of the elector was now a diffi- 
cult one. On the one side were arrayed the 
emperor, most of the German princes, and the 
sovereign pontiff, whose authority Frederic, at 
this time, had no thought of shaking off; and 
on the other was a poor, defenceless monk ; for 
against Luther alone was this assault levelled. 
But then there was the learning and holiness 
of the man, and the manifest justice of his 
cause. There were also on the side of Lu- 
ther some powerful intercessors ; particularly 
Spalatin, the chaplain, and John Frederic, one 
of the nephews of the elector, who had fully em- 
braced the reformer's doctrines. 

Under these various influences, the mind of 
Frederic, perhaps, wavered for a time ; but he 
soon came to the right decision. He shuddered 
at the thought of delivering such a man as Lu- 
ther into the hands of his implacable enemies. 
" Justice," thought he, " must have precedence 
even of the pope." On the 4th of November, 
he signified to the papal legates how much he 
disapproved of the proceedings of Eck in Sax- 
ony, and how difficult it would be to execute 
any measures against Luther, on account of the 
multitudes who had united in his appeal to a 



236 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

general council, and thus made common cause 
with him. He further said, that neither his 
imperial majesty, nor any one else, had yet 
made it appear to him that Luther's writings 
had been refuted, and were fit onl}^ for the 
flames. He demanded, therefore, for liUther, 
that he should be furnished with a safe-con- 
duct, and be permitted to answer for himself 
before a learned, pious and impartial tribunal. 

This decision of the elector, as might have 
been expected, threw the arrogant Aleander 
into a great passion. " We will execute the 
bull," said he. " We will pursue and burn the 
writings of the heretic. And as for his person, 
the pope has litde inclination to imbrue his 
hands in the blood of the unhappy wretch." 

But when the news of the decision reached 
Wittemberg, the friends of Luther w^ere trans- 
ported with joy. " The German nobles," said 
Melancthon, ^-^ will follow the guidance of the 
prince, whom they revere as their Nestor. 
If Homer styled his aged hero the bulwark 
of the Greeks ; why may not our Frederic be 
surnamed the bulwark of Germany?''^ 

At the time of the decision above described, 
the learned Erasmus was at Cologne, in com- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 237 

pany with the emperor and the princes of Ger- 
many. Erasmus was the acknowledged head 
of that philosophical, academical party, which 
for centuries had been labouring to correct the 
abuses of the Romish church, but without suc- 
cess. In the early period of the Reformation, 
he held a sort of neutral position ; sometimes 
attracted towards Luther and his associates, 
and then suddenly drawn back again into the 
sphere of Romish delusion. The elector, 
knowing that the opinion of a man so highly 
respected as Erasmus would have much 
weight, requested and obtained an interview 
with the illustrious Hollander. The elector 
was standing before the fire, with Spalatin by 
his side, when Erasmus was ushered into the 
chamber. ''What think you of Luther?" 
asked Frederic immediately. Surprised by 
the question so suddenly put to him, the pru- 
dent Erasmus endeavoured to evade a reply. 
He screwed up his mouth, bit his lips, and 
continued silent. Hereupon the elector raised 
his eyebrows, as his custom was when he 
meant to press an explicit answer, and looked 
Erasmus full in the face. The latter, at a loss 
how to extricate himself from the difficulty, 



238 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

replied at last in a jocular tone, " Luther has 
committed two grievous sins. He has attacked 
the pope's crown and the monks' bellies." 
The elector smiled, but intimated to his visiter 
that he was in earnest. Erasmus then replied 
as follows : " The origin of all these dissen- 
sions is the hatred the monks bear to learning, 
and the fear of seeing their tyranny brought to 
an end. What are the weapons of their war- 
fare against Luther ? Clamour, cabal, malice 
and slander. The more virtuous a man is, 
and the more strongly attached to the doctrines 
of the gospel, the less does he find to censure 
in Luther's proceedings. The severity of the 
bull has roused the indignation of all good 
men ; for they see in it none of that gentleness 
befitting the vicar of Christ. The danger of 
executing such a bull is far greater than some 
persons imagine. There are difficulties in the 
way which cannot be easily surmounted. To 
begin the reign of Charles with so unpopular 
an act as the imprisonment of Luther, would 
be an ill omen for the future. The world is 
thirsting for gospel truth ; let us beware how 
we resist so holy a desire. The whole ques- 
tion should be examined by dispassionate and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 239 

competent judges. This is the only course 
that can be followed, consistently with the 
dignity of the pope himself." 

This was an honest hour with Erasmus. 
The presence of the elector and of Spalatin 
threw him off his guard, and he spake with a 
frankness to which he was not accustomed. 
He even consented to reduce his opinion to 
writing, and left it with Spalatin ; — though he 
afterwards requested to withdraw the paper. 

As an offset to all this, however, he imme- 
diately wrote a most submissive letter to the 
pope, — which the pope was pleased to answer 
most graciously. This latter circumstance 
was a source of deep mortification to Aleander. 
In his zeal for popery, he administered a se- 
vere reproof to the pope himself, that his holi- 
ness should deign to write such a letter to 
Erasmus. But his holiness comforted him by 
saying, " We must not seem to perceive the 
evil intentions of the man. Prudence forbids 
it. Let us not close the door of repentance 
against him." 

Defeated in their public attempts to effect 
the destruction of Luther and his works, the 
myrmidons of Rome had recourse to more 



240 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION.' 

private methods. The priests were instructed 
to carry the matter to the confessional, and to 
press upon the consciences of those who sought 
absolution inquiries such as these: "Have 
you read the writings of Luther ? Have you 
them in your possession ? Do you regard them 
as true, or heretical?" If the penitent hesi- 
tated to pronounce the prescribed anathema, 
the priest refused him absolution. In this 
way, the consciences of many were distressed. 
Great agitation prevailed among the people. 
Numbers who had embraced the gospel seem- 
ed likely to be brought again under the papal 
yoke. Luther was speedily informed of what 
was going on ; nor was he slow in lifting up 
his indignant voice against it. He addressed 
the penitents in a tone at once fearless and 
scriptural, and in a way to inspire them with 
the requisite courage and resolution. " When 
you are asked whether or not you approve of 
my books, let your answer be, ' You are a 
confessor, not an inquisitor or jailer. It is my 
duty to confess whatsoever my conscience 
prompts me to disclose ; it is yours to abstain 
from prying into the secrets of my heart. 
Give me absolution first, and then dispute 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 241 

with Luther, or the pope, or whomsoever you 
please ; but beware of turning the sacrament 
of penance into an instrument of strife and de- 
bate.' And if the confessor should refuse to 
yield, I would dispense altogether with his 
absolution. Be not disquieted. If man will 
not absolve you, God will. Rejoice, there- 
fore, that you are absolved by God himself, 
and come forward fearlessly to the sacrament 
of the altar. The priest will have to answer 
at the last day for the absolution he has with- 
held. Christ, the true bishop, will himself 
supply your spiritual wants." This stirring 
exhortation of Luther was read in many a pri- 
vate dwelling, and awakened courage and faith 
in many a troubled, desponding heart. 

But it was not enough for him to stand on 
the defensive. He felt that he must become 
the assailant, and return (as his custom was) 
blow for blow. *'Iwill raise the choler of 
that Italian beast," he said ; and he kept his 
word. He published a work in which he 
proved from the prophecies of Daniel and 
John, and from the epistles of Paul, Peter, and 
Jude — that the kingdom of Antichrist, pre- 
dicted and described in the Bible, was no other 
21 



242 MORNINGt OF THE REFORMATION. 

than the papacy. Perhaps none of the works 
of Luther had a more powerful influence on 
the general mind than this. The fearful image 
of Antichrist, seated on the pontifical throne, 
was present to every imagination, and filled it 
with a sacred dread. The pope's authority, 
which had so long been regarded with the 
deepest reverence, was now the object of ge- 
neral detestation and terror. 

Notwithstanding the anathemas of the papal 
bull, the popularity of the reformers at Wit- 
temberg had not been so great at any time as 
now. The university was thronged with stu- 
dents, and the convent chapel and the city 
church were both too small for the eager crowds 
that hung on the lips of Luther. The prior 
of the Augustines was in constant alarm, lest 
the buildings should give way, under the 
weight of the multitudes that filled them. Nor 
was this enthusiasm confined to Wittemberg, 
From all parts of Germany — from princes, 
nobles, scholars, and persons of every grade 
in life, letters poured in upon the reformer, 
which spoke the language of encouragement 
and failh. Nor did he suffer these letters to re- 
main unanswered. Three printing presses 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 243 

were incessantly employed in multiplying 
copies of his various writings. His discourses, 
like so many winged messengers of truth, 
passed rapidly from hand to hand, diffusing 
light and consolation in the cottage, the cloister 
and in the abodes of kings. 

Nor were the weapons of the gospel alone 
employed in promoting the cause of the Re- 
formation. Caustic satires, exciting pictures 
and songs, mock processions, and theatrical 
representations were occasionally resorted to, 
in setting forth different parts of the papal 
system, and exposing them to ridicule and 
contempt. We mention these things, not to 
praise them, but to exhibit truly the spirit of 
the age, and the means employed in stirring up 
the people to cast from them the bondage of 
the papal yoke. 

But in the midst of all his encouragements, 
the great reformer had some trials. He had 
the mortification to see some of his early 
friends appearing inclined to waver and retrace 
their steps. His old friend Staupitz had been 
suspected and accused, and had consented to 
submit to the judgment of his holiness. Where- 
upon Luther wrote to him, with much affec- 



244 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

tion, but with great plainness. "If Christ 
loves you, he will constrain you to take back 
that letter. When our Lord is rejected, strip- 
ped, blasphemed, this is not the time to shrink 
back, but to sound the onset. You exhort me 
to be humble : I exhort you to be firm. You 
have too much humility, as I have too much 
pride. If you will not follow Christ, you 
must let me advance alone. I will press on- 
ward ; and the prize of the high calling shall 
be mine." 

Although Luther was no longer a papist or 
a monk, he still wore his monastic garb, and 
resided in the convent of the Augustinians as 
usual. The spirit which actuated him at this 
critical period may be best learned from some 
of his private letters. Writing to the elector, 
he says, "Amid the storms that have assailed 
me, I always hoped that I should be permitted 
to enjoy repose at last. But I now see that 
this was one of the thoughts of man. Day 
after day the waves are rolling higher, and on 
every side the ocean hems me in. Fiercely, 
indeed, is the tempest raging, yet I still grasp 
the sword with one hand, while with the other 
I build up the walls of Zion." 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 245 

Yet the confidence with which he was ani- 
mated was not a confidence in his own powers 
or strength. He deeply felt his weakness and 
imperfection, and often expressed it in his let- 
ters to his friends. " Thou doest well," says 
he to Pellican, " to pray for me ; for I cannot 
give up myself, as I ought, to holy exercises. 
Life is a cross to me. Thou doest well in ex- 
horting me to moderation. I feel the need of 
it. But I am not master of myself. An im- 
pulse, I know not of what nature, hurries me 
away. I bear enmity to no man living ; but I 
am so beset with external enemies, that I can- 
not be sufficiently watchful against the seduc- 
tions of Satan. I entreat your prayers." 

It was at the very commencement of the 
year 1521, that the first diet or general assem- 
bly of the German States held since the ac- 
cession of Charles to the empire convened at 
Worms. The occasion was one of very spe- 
cial interest. The expected presence of the 
emperor, as well as the certainty that many 
difficult and important questions were to be 
decided, had drawn most of the German princes 
together. But the question of all others the 
most interesting and perplexing, which was 
21* 



246 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

likely to come before the diet, was that of the 
Reformation. Luther was an excommunicated 
man ; and were the anathemas of the pope to 
be summarily executed upon him ? Or was 
he to be sheltered and protected, at least till he 
could have a hearing ? 

Unwilling to displease either the pontiff or 
the Elector of Saxony, Charles had written to 
Frederic, before the assembling of the diet, 
requesting that he would bring Luther along 
with him ; and Luther had determined at all 
hazards to go. ''If they intend to use vio- 
lence against me," said he, " as they probably 
do, (for assuredly it is with no view of gaining 
information that they require me to appear 
before them,) I commit the matter into the 
hands of God. He still lives and reigns, who 
preserved the three Israelites in the fiery fur- 
nace. If it be not his will to deliver me, my 
life is little worth. Let us only take care that 
the gospel be not exposed to the insults of the 
ungodly ; and let us shed our blood in its de- 
fence rather than allow them to triumph." 

But as the time approached, the courage of 
the elector failed him. He feared that to take 
Luther with him to Worms would be to con- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 247 

duct him to a scaffold. And as Providence 
would have it. the emperor himself, influenced 
chiefly by Aleander, the pope's legate, (who 
insisted that it would be the height of scandal 
for an excommunicated heretic to be admitted 
to appear before the assembly,) gave orders that 
Luther should be left at Wittemberg. 

Aleander, having succeeded in preventing 
Luther's appearance at Worms, used every 
means, in his absence, to eflect his destruction. 
He accused him, not only of disobedience and 
heresy, but also of sedition, rebellion, impiety 
and blasphemy ; and urged upon the emperor, 
the princes, the prelates, and other members 
of the assembly, in the strongest terms, the 
necessity of his condemnation. But for rea- 
sons of state with some, and from a personal 
regard for Luther on the part of others, his 
representations were received with compara- 
tive indifference. 

Baffled in this direction, he next turned his 
eyes towards Rome. His object was two- 
fold ; First, to obtain a more formal condemna- 
tion of Luther and his adherents ; and second- 
ly, to procure money to be distributed in the 
diet; to such of the members as could be in- 



248 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

iluenced by a bribe, "Germany," he wrote 
to the Cardinal de Medicis, "is falling away 
from Rome. The princes, one after another, 
are abandoning the pope. A little more delay 
—a little more compromise — and the case is 
hopeless. Money! money! or Germany is 
lost!" 

This earnest appeal to Rome was not in 
vain. The pope issued a new bull of excom- 
munication against the heretical doctor, in 
which not only himself, but all who took part 
with him, were anathematized, and were de- 
clared to have forfeited, for themselves and 
their descendants, all their honours and their 
worldly goods. Every faithful Christian was 
commanded to shun all intercourse with the 
accursed crew. In every place where the 
heresy had gained footing, it was the duty of 
the priests, on Sundays and holidays, to pub- 
lish the sentence of excommunication. On 
these occasions the sacred vessels and orna- 
ments were to be removed from the altar ; the 
cross was to be laid upon the ground ; twelve 
priests, holding lighted torches, were to dash 
them down and extinguish them, by trampling 
them under foot ; the bishop was to proclaim 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 249 

the condemnation of those ungodly men ; the 
bells were to be tolled ; the priests, in concert, 
were to chant anathemas and maledictions ; 
and tlie service was to be concluded with a 
discourse of the most unsparing denunciation 
against Luther and his adherents. 

Thus much for the new bull which was 
issued from Rome. In connexion with it, large 
sums of money were forwarded to Aleander, 
which he was directed to scatter with an un- 
sparing hand ; also briefs, couched in the 
strongest language, and addressed to the high- 
est authorities in the empire. 

Thus armed, Aleander and his party made 
another desperate onset to procure the condem- 
nation of Luther, '' Not a day passes," wrote 
the elector to his brother John, " but measures 
hostile to Luther are brought forward. His 
enemies now demand that he should be placed 
under the ban of the pope and the emperor 
jointly. To injure him by every possible 
method is their single aim. The men who 
parade their red hats before us— the cardinals 
and their followers — pursue this work with 
an unwearied zeal." On one occasion, Alean- 
der is reported to have given vent to his feel- 



250 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ings in the following language : '' If ye seek, 
O ye Germans ! to throw off your allegiance 
to Rome, we will bring things to such a pass 
that ye shall unsheath the sword of extermina- 
tion against each other, and perish in your own 
blood." "It is in this way," says Luther, 
" that the pope and his legates feed Christ's 
sheep !" 

Some of the emperor's counsellors, particu- 
larly the civilians, were unwilling to have re- 
course to extreme measures, preferring rather 
to attempt an adjustment by compromise. " Let 
us entangle Luther in negotiations, and silence 
him by the help of some partial concessions. 
To stifle the flame, not fan it, is the true policy. 
If the monk fall into the trap, we have gained 
our object. By accepting a compromise, he 
will fix a gag on his own mouth, and ruin his 
cause. To save appearances, a few external 
reforms must be granted. The elector will be 
satisfied, the pope will be conciliated, and 
things will move on in the usual track." 
Such was the advice and the policy of some of 
the emperor's council. But the influence of 
Aleander seems to have prevailed over that of 
all others. Charles was not unwilling to con- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 251 

cur in the condemnation of Luther, if the con- 
sent of the diet could be gained. " Convince 
the diet," said he, '' and my approbation shall 
not be wanting." This was just what Alean- 
der desired ; and it was agreed that he should 
address the assembly, on the approaching 13th 
of February. 

On the day appointed, the legate, who was 
one of the most eloquent men of his age, ap- 
peared before the princes, and harangued them 
for the space of three long hours. He furiously 
attacked the doctrines of Luther, represented 
him to have sinned against the dead and the 
living, against heaven and earth, against all the 
interests of society, against the authority of 
both church and State. He charged him with 
having inculcated enough of error to warrant 
the burning of a hundred thousand heretics. 
He undertook to defend the authority of the 
pope, and the character of the church, against 
what he called the blasphemies of Luther, and 
concluded by calling on the emperor and the 
princes to do their duty, and exterminate at 
once that newly-spawned heresy, which threat- 
ened to convert God's kingdom into a howling 
wilderness — a haunt for wild beasts, and to 



252 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

plunge Germany into the same condition of 
barbarism and desolation to which Asia had 
been reduced by the superstition of Moham- 
med. 

The address of the legate produced a strong 
temporary impression upon the assembly, es- 
pecially as there was no one present to reply. 
The princes looked at each other, with counte- 
nances betraying excitement and alarm, and 
murmurs began to arise from various quarters 
against the reformer and his supporters. But 
the influence of the speech soon passed away, 
and the members of the diet began to feel, if not 
more reconciled to Luther, at least determined 
to set forth and suppress the intolerable griev- 
ances of the Germanic nation. 

It is remarkable, that these grievances were, 
in a few days, brought forward, and their sup- 
pression demanded, by Duke George of Sax- 
ony, who was probably the most inveterate 
hater of Luther of any member of the assem- 
bly. '' The diet," said he, " must not lose 
sight of the grievances of which it has to claim 
redress from the court of Rome. How nume- 
rous are the abuses that have crept into our 
dominions." The noble duke went on to notice 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 253 

the annats, by which the empire was yearly 
drained of large sums of money — the leasing 
and sale of ecclesiastical benefices — the tolera- 
tion granted to rich offenders, while the poor, 
who had not the ability to purchase impunity, 
were severely punished — the gross perversion 
of the funds of the church for the private bene- 
fit of the pope and his dependents — the shops 
in the large cities for the sale of indulgences, 
by which the last farthing was squeezed from 
the poor man's purse — ecclesiastics permitted 
to indulge freely in practices for which other 
men were degraded and punished— penances 
so devised as to betray the penitent into a repe- 
tition of offence, in order that more money 
might be exacted from him. "These," said 
the duke, *' are but a few of the abuses which 
cry out on Rome for redress. All shame is 
laid aside, and one object alone incessantly 
pursued, — money ! ever more money ! So 
that the very men whose duty it is to dissemi- 
nate truth are engaged in nothing but the pro- 
pagation of falsehood. And yet they are not 
merely tolerated, but rewarded ; because the 
more they lie, the larger are their gains. This 
is the foul source from which so many corrupt- 
22 



254 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ed streams flow out on every side. A thorough 
reform must be effected ; to accomplish which 
a general council must be assembled. Where- 
fore, most excellent princes and lords, I respect- 
fully beseech you to give this matter your im- 
mediate attention." 

After the duke had spoken thus freely and 
plainly, other members of the diet brought for- 
ward their grievances. Even the ecclesiasti- 
cal princes concurred in these complaints. 
" We have a pontiff," said they, " who is 
occupied only with pleasure and the chase ; 
while the church preferments of Germany are 
bestowed on gunners, falconers, valets, ass- 
drivers, grooms, guardsmen, and other people 
of the same stamp, ignorant, inexperienced, 
corrupt, and strangers to our nation." 

Luther himself had not spoken out with 
greater boldness against the abuses of Rome 
than did some of these Catholic members of 
the diet at Worms. But there was this differ- 
ence : they pointed out the evil; while Luther, 
together with the evil, brought into view the 
proper remedy. He proved that the sinner 
receives the true indulgence — that remission 
of sins which comes from God, solely by faith 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 255 

in the Lord Jesus Christ. " How shall a man 
become holy ?" asks Luther. *' A Cordelier 
will reply, ' Put on a gray hood, and tie a cord 
round your middle.' The pope will answer, 
' Hear mass and fast.' But the Christian says, 
' Believe in Christ.' Faith, and that alone, 
justifies and saves. We must have eternal life 
before good works. When we are born anew 
and made children of God, then, and then only, 
we perform good works." 

In consequence of the complaints that were 
uttered by different members, the diet appoint- 
ed a committee to draw up and report a list of 
their grievances. The enumeration extended 
to a hundred and one. A deputation composed 
of secular and ecclesiastical princes presented 
this report to the emperor, with an earnest 
request that he would see that justice was 
done, conformably to the engagement he had 
contracted on his elevation to the throne. 
*' What a loss of Christian souls," said they 
to the emperor, '' what injustice, what extor- 
tion, are the daily fruits of those scandalous 
practices to which the spiritual head of Chris- 
tendom affords his countenance ? The ruin 
and dishonour of our nation must be averted. 



256 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

We therefore very humbly but very earnestly 
beseech you to sanction a general reformation, 
to undertake the work, and to carry it through." 

This urgent remonstrance of the diet seems 
to have surprised both Aleander and the em- 
peror. It had not been expected. They 
were still more surprised, to discover an un- 
willingness, on the part of the assembly, to 
decide upon the case of Luther, in his absence. 
His friends insisted that it would be the height 
of injustice to condemn the man, without 
having heard him, and without ascertaining 
from his own lips that he was the author of 
the books which it was proposed to burn. 
While his enemies admitted that his doctrines 
had taken such fast hold of men's minds, that 
it would be impossible to check their progress 
without allowing him a hearing. 

By these indications in the assembly, Alean- 
der was greatly disturbed and alarmed. From 
Luther's learning and intrepidity, and from the 
ignorance of the princes before whom he would 
plead, he felt that he had every thing to fear. 
He conversed with the emperor, and with 
those members of the diet over whom he sup- 
posed he might have some influence. '' There 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 257 

shall be no disputing with Luther, you say ; 
but how can you be sure that the genius of this 
audacious man, the fire that flashes from his 
eye, the eloquence of his speech, the mysteri- 
ous spirit that animates him, will not suffice to 
excite a tumult ? Already there are many that 
revere him as a saint, and his picture is every- 
where to be seen encircled with rays of glory, 
like those which surround the heads of the 
blessed. If he must needs appear, beware, at 
all events, of pledging the public faith for his 
safety." 

But while the great ones of the earth were 
thus agitated and perplexed with the case of 
Luther, he seems to have enjoyed great quiet- 
ness and peace in his retired cell at AVittem- 
berg. He was meditating (with reference to 
his own case) on those ecstatic words of the 
mother of Jesus : '^ My soul doth magnify 
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God 
my Saviour, For he that is mighty hath 
done to me great things, and holy is his 
name. He hath showed strength with his 
arm. He hath put down the mighty from 
their seats, and exalted them of low degree.^^ 
" O what boldness of speech," exclaimed Lu- 
22* 



258 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ther, " in this young virgin ! By a single 
word, she brands all the strong with weakness, 
all the mighty with faintness, all the wise with 
folly, and all those whose name is glorious on 
the earth with disgrace ! She casts all strength, 
all might, all wisdom, all glory, at the feet of 
God alone ! He hath showed strength with 
his arm. Destruction comes, when none has 
marked its approach. Deliverance comes, 
when none has dared to look for it. God 
leaves his children in oppression and misery, 
so that every one says, They are past all hope. 
But then it is that he shows strength with his 
arm. When man's strength ends, God's 
strength begins. At another time, he suffers 
his enemies to exalt themselves in their pom.p 
and vain-glory. They become inflated with 
their own wisdom ; and then, when the eyes 
of their fellow-men are dazzled with their 
greatness, God's arm is lifted up, and lo ! the 
fabric they have been rearing disappears in a 
moment, like a bubble bursting in the air." 

While Luther was fortifying his heart with 
reflections such as these, he received an inti- 
mation from Spalatin, that the emperor was 
about to summon him to Worms to make a 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 259 

public retractation of his doctrines. In reply- 
he says, '* If the emperor sends for me only to 
retract, my answer shall be that I will remain 
here ; which will be all the same as though I 
had been to Worms, and returned again. And 
if the emperor then chooses to send for me to 
put me to death, as an enemy of the empire, I 
shall be ready to obey the summons ; for, by 
Christ's help, I will never abandon his word 
in the hour of battle. I know that these blood- 
thirsty men will never rest till they have taken 
my life. God grant that my death may be laid 
to the charge of the papists alone." 



260 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Luther summoned to appear at Worms — Bugenhagen at 
Wittemberg — Luther leaves Wittemberg — Arrives at 
Weimar — At Erfurth — Meets Justus Jonas — Ar- 
rives at Frankfort — Papists try in vain to stop him — 
His entry into Worms — His desertion and prayer — 
His first appearance before the diet — His second ap- 
pearance — His answers and appeal — Persists in the 
answer that he had given — The emperor's indiscreet 
decision — The diet divided — Great pains taken to 
bring Luther to retract, but in vain — He is ordered 
to leave Worms — His departure. 

In the preceding chapter, we saw the im- 
perial diet caUing for Luther, and the pope's 
legate endeavouring to prevent his appearance. 
But Charles was not long in forming his reso- 
lution. The voice of the diet was not to be 
disregarded ; and besides, the appearance of 
Luther before the assembly seemed absolutely 
necessary in order to the adjustment of the 
difficulty. Charles accordingly resolved to 
cite him to Worms, but without giving him a 
safe-conduct. The designs of the emperor in 
this latter particular were overruled, however, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 261 

by the diet ; and Luther received, in connexion 
with his summons, the most ample assurances 
of personal safety. His safe-conduct from the 
emperor was directed as follows : " To the 
worshipful, our well-beloved and godly Doc- 
tor Martin Luther, of the order of the Augus- 
tines ;" — a singular form of address to be given 
at that day, to an excommunicated, anathema- 
tized heretic. The instrument required all 
princes, lords, magistrates and others, to re- 
spect the safe-conduct granted to Luther, under 
pain of being dealt with as offenders against 
the emperor and the empire. A special mes- 
senger was appointed by the emperor to com- 
municate the summons to Luther, and to escort 
him to Worms. 

On the 24th of March, 1521, the imperial 
herald entered Wittemberg, and delivered his 
writ of summons into the hands of the reformer. 
It was a moment of anxiety and terror to his 
friends ; but the composure of Luther was un- 
disturbed. " The papists," said he, '' have 
little desire to see me at Worms ; but they 
long for ray condemnation and death. No 
matter ! Pray not for me, but for the word of 
God. My blood will scarcely be cold, before 



262 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

thousands and tens of thousands in every land 
will be made to answer for the shedding of it. 
The ' most holy' Antichrist, the father, master, 
and chief of manslayers, is resolved that it 
shall be spilt. Amen. The will of the Lord 
be done. Christ will give me his spirit to 
overcome these ministers of Satan. I despise 
them while I live ; I will conquer them in 
death. They are striving hard to force me to 
recant. My recantation shall be this : I form- 
erly said that the pope was Christ's vicar; I 
now say, that he is the adversary of the Lord, 
and the apostle of the devil." 

It was a providential occurrence for the Re- 
formation, that Bugenhagen, a noble and pow- 
erful preacher of the gospel, who had been 
driven out from Pomerania (his native land) 
by persecution, sought a refuge at Wittem- 
berg, just as Luther was ready to depart. He 
was received with much cordiality, and ap- 
pointed to expound the Psalms during the 
reformer's absence. The year following, he 
became minister of the church in Wittemberg, 
and continued to preside over it for six- 
and-thirty years. He was frequently styled 
Pomeranus, from the country of his birth ; 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 263 

and sometimes simply the pastor, from his 
office. 

It was on the 2d of April, that Luther took 
leave of Wittemberg and his friends. As he 
departed, he turned to Melancthon and said 
with much emotion, "If I never return, and 
my enemies should take my life, cease not, 
brother, to teach and stand fast in the truth. 
Labour in my stead, since I can no longer 
work. If thy life be spared, my death will 
matter little." Then committing his soul to 
Him who is faithful, he stepped into his car- 
riage and left the city. He was accompanied 
in the same carriage, by a legal counsellor 
whose name was Schurff, by his friend Ams- 
dorff, and a pious student. The imperial 
herald, in full costume, wearing the imperial 
eagle, went before them on horseback. In all 
places through which they passed, there 
seemed to be a general presentiment that Lu- 
ther was going to meet his doom ; still he 
was unmoved. As they entered Weimar, 
they saw the emperor's officers passing from 
street to street, demanding with a loud voice, 
that the writings of Luther should be given up 
to them. " Well, doctor," asked the herald, 



264 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

in alarm, " will you go any farther?" ''Yes," 
replied Luther, "I will go on, though I should 
be put under an interdict in every town." At 
Weimar, Luther had an interview with Duke 
John, the elector's brother, at whose request 
he consented to preach. His sermon was 
blessed to the conversion of a Franciscan 
monk, by the name of Voit, who afterwards 
became a professor at Wittemberg. The 
duke kindly assisted Luther with money for 
his journey. 

As he approached Erfurth he was met by a 
troop of horsemen, consisting of citizens and 
members of the university, who came out, of 
their own accord, to do him honour. They 
escorted him into the city, to the convent of 
the Augustines — the same in which he had 
formerly resided — where he was expected to 
lodge. On the following Sunday he preached 
to an assembly so crowded that there was an 
alarm, for a moment, under the apprehension 
that the house was giving way. In his sermon 
he said not a word about himself, or his pecu- 
liar circumstances, but published salvation by 
faith in Christ. "I affirm," said he, "that 
even the holy mother of God is saved, not by 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 265 

her virginity, nor her maternity, nor yet by 
her purity, or her works, but solely by means 
of faith." Towards the conclusion of the 
discourse he insisted strenuously, as usual, 
upon the necessity of works as the fruits and 
evidences of faith. "Since God has saved 
us, let us so order our works that he may take 
pleasure in them. Art thou rich? Let thy 
riches be the supply of other men's poverty. 
Art thou poor ? Let thy service minister to 
the rich. If thou labour for thyself alone, the 
service which thou offerest to God is a mere 
pretence." 

It was at Erfurth that Luther became first 
acquainted with Justus Jonas, then rector of 
the University. Jonas solicited and obtained 
the privilege of accompanying Luther to 
Worms. After his return he was elected pro- 
vost of the church at Wittemberg, where he 
continued to labour to the end of life. Some 
years after, Melancthon thus characterizes the 
different religious teachers at Wittemberg. 
''Bugenhagen is exegetical; I am a logician; 
Jonas is the preacher; but Luther excels in all ;" 
— *' a diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit." 

Pursuing his journey, Luther came to Eisen- 
23 



266 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

ach, where he was taken suddenly ill ; but in 
consequence of bleeding and the use of cor- 
dials, he was so much revived as to be able to 
proceed the following day. Everywhere, as 
he passed, the people of the country flocked 
around him. They were anxious to see the 
bold confessor who was going to present him- 
self, bare-headed, in the presence of his ene- 
mies. Some said to him, as he passed along, 
" There are plenty of cardinals and bishops at 
Worms. They will burn you to ashes, as 
they did John Huss." But Luther replied 
with his characteristic ardour, "Though they 
should kindle a fire whose flame should reach 
from Worms to Wittemberg, and rise up to 
heaven, in the name of the Lord I would go 
through it, and would stand before them. I 
would enter the jaws of the behemoth, and 
break his teeth, and there confess the Lord 
Jesus Christ." One day, when he had entered 
an inn, and the crowd was as usual pressing 
around him, a military officer approached him 
and said, ''Are you the man who has under- 
taken to reform the church? How can you 
expect to succeed?" ''Yes," replied Luther, 
"I am the man. I place my dependence on 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 267 

that Almighty God, whose word and command- 
ment are before me." The officer, deeply af- 
fected, gazed on him and said, ''Dear friend, 
there is much in what you say. I serve the 
Emperor Charles ; but your master is greater 
than mine. He will help and protect you." 

At length Luther arrived at Frankfort, where 
he rested a little, and whence he dropped a 
line to Spalatin — the only one he had written 
during his journey. "I have arrived here," 
said he, "although Satan has tried to stop me 
on the way by sickness. From Eisenach to 
this place I have been suffering, and am now 
in a worse condition than ever. My enemies 
would fain terrify me ; but Christ lives, and 
we shall enter Worms in spite of all the coun- 
cils of hell and all the powers of the air. 
Therefore engage a lodging for me." 

As the accounts of Luther's progress reach- 
ed Worms, the partisans of popery were 
alarmed. They had not expected that he 
would obey the emperor's summons. Some 
expedient must be resorted to, to stop him on 
his way, at least till the term of his safe-con- 
duct has expired. With this view, several of 
the more artful among them set out to meet 



268 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION* 

him, for the purpose of drawmg him into a 
negotiation. They had the address to bring 
over to their views a number of Luther's 
friends, among whom was the excellent Mar- 
tin Bucer, persuading them that a compromise 
might be easily effected. Luther had reached 
Oppenheim, when Bucer met him and proposed 
to him the plan of a negotiation. *'The em- 
peror's confessor," said he, "desires a confer- 
ence with you. His influence with his master 
is unbounded. Through him we are assured 
that every thing may yet be arranged." To 
this proposal, the friends who were with Lu- 
ther knew not what to say ; but he saw through 
the design at once. His safe-conduct protected 
him only three days more, and he had no time 
for parleying. "Tell the emperor's confess- 
or," said he, "that if he has any thing to say, 
he will find me at Worms. I repair to the 
place of summons." 

Meanwhile, Spalatin himself began to be 
disturbed with fearful apprehensions. He 
was with the elector at the diet, and he heard 
it said, on all sides, that the heretic's safe-con- 
duct would be disregarded. His friendship 
took the alarm ; and just as Luther was ap- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 269 

proaching the city, he sent out a servant to 
meet him, with the message, ''Abstain from 
entering Worms." It was on this occasion 
that Luther made to the servant the following 
memorable declaration : '' Go tell your master, 
that though there were as many devils at 
Worms as there are tiles on the roofs of the 
houses, I would enter the city." The mes- 
senger returned with the astounding declaration. 
The intrepidity of Luther seemed to impart 
new life and courage to his friends. 

It was on the morning of the 16th of April 
that Luther discovered the walls of the ancient 
city. All were expecting him. Not less than 
a hundred individuals, nobles, cavaliers, and 
other gentlemen, rode out to meet him, and, 
surrounding his carriage, escorted him to the 
gates. At ten o'clock he entered within those 
walls, whence so many had predicted that he 
never would depart. A train of two thousand 
persons accompanied him through the streets 
of the city. The crowd seemed to increase 
at every step, and was even greater than at the 
public entry of the emperor. At last the herald 
of the empire stopped before the hotel of the 
Knights of Rhodes, where lodgings had been 
23* 



270 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

provided for him. As Luther alighted from 
his carriage, he exclaimed, "God will be my 
defence." 

The news of his arrival was received with 
alarm by many, both friends and enemies, and 
with the deepest interest by all. The emperor 
immediately convened his confidential advisers, 
to know what must be done. The Bishop of 
Palermo advised, "Let your majesty rid your- 
self of this man at once. Di^ not Sigismund 
bring John Huss to the stake ? One is under 
no obligation either to give or to observe a 
safe-conduct, in the case of heretics." But 
Charles could not consent to such diabolical 
counsel. It was, therefore, agreed that the 
reformer must be heard. 

Meanwhile, crowds continued to gather out- 
side the hotel of Rhodes ; some regarding 
Luther as a prodigy of wisdom, others, as a 
monster of iniquity ; but all anxious to see the 
man who had excited so deep an interest. 
Counts, barons, knights, gentlemen, ecclesias- 
tics, citizens of all classes, thronged his apart- 
ments. All seemed struck with his courage- 
ous bearing ; the joy of his countenance ; the 
power of his eloquence, and the solemn eleva- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 271 

tion and enthusiasm which pervaded his whole 
demeanour. Some ascribed this grandeur to 
a kind of inspiration ; while others as strenu- 
ously urged that he was possessed with the 
devil. 

The next morning, April 17th, the marshal 
of the empire cited him to appear at four 
o'clock in the afternoon, in presence of his 
imperial majesty and of the states of the em- 
pire. The summons was received by Luther 
with profound respect, though he was at that 
time suffering under an unusual degree of 
darkness and depression of soul. God's face 
seemed to be veiled ; and his faith, for the 
time, forsook him. His enemies multiplied 
before him, and his imagination was overcome 
by the aspect of his dangers. In that hour of 
bitter trial — an hour which, to him, was the 
garden of Gethsemane — he prostrated himself 
with his face to the earth, and poured out the 
following most remarkable prayer : " O God ! 
Almighty and everlasting God ! how dreadful 
is the world ! Behold, how its mouth opens 
to swallow me up, and how small is my faith 
in thee ! 

" 0, the weakness of the flesh and the power 



272 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 

of Satan ! If I am to depend on any strength 
of this world, all is over. The knell is struck 
— sentence is gone forth. 

" O God ! O thou my God ! help me against 
all the wisdom of this world. Do this, I be- 
seech thee. Thou shouldest do this by thine 
own power. The work is not mine, but 
thine, I have no business here ; / have no- 
thing to contend for with these great men of 
the world. I would gladly pass my days in 
happiness and peace. But the cause is thine; 
and it is righteous and everlasting. O Lord, 
help me ! O faithful and unchangeable God, 
help me ! I lean not upon man ; it were vain. 
Whatever is from man is tottering. Whatever 
proceeds from him must fail. 

*'My God! my God! dost thou not hear? 
Art thou no longer living ? Nay, thou canst not 
die. Thou dost but hide thyself. Thou hast 
chosen me for this work — I know it; there- 
fore, O God, accomplish thine own will. For- 
sake me not, for the sake of thy well-beloved 
Son, Jesus Christ, my defence, my buckler, 
and my strong-hold." 

After a moment of silent wrestling, the sup- 
pliant continued: "Lord, where art thou? 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 273 

My God, where art thou ? Come, I pray thee, 
for I am ready. Behold me, prepared to lay 
down my life for thy truth, like a sufiering 
lamb, for the cause is holy; it is thine own 
cause. 

"I will not let thee go — not for all eternity. 
And though the world should be thronged with 
devils, and this body (which is the work of 
thine hands) should be cast forth, cut in pieces, 
trodden under foot, consumed to ashes ; my 
soul is thine. Yes, I have thine own word 
to assure me of it. My soul belongs to thee, 
and will abide with thee forever and ever. 
Amen and amen." 

This prayer (the like to which, perhaps, 
has never been recorded by any uninspired 
pen) discloses to us Luther and the Reforma- 
tion. History here lifts the veil of the sanc- 
tuary, and discovers the secret source whence 
strength and courage descended to the humble 
and despised individual who was employed as 
God's instrument to disenthral the human soul 
and open a new age. The springs of Luther's 
energies lie open before us. We see where 
his great power lay. 

At four o'clock the marshal of the empire 



274 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

appeared, and Luther prepared to accompany 
him. His prayer had been heard, and his 
mind was now calm and tranquil. As he 
passed out from his hotel, the crowd that 
thronged the streets was even more dense than 
on the preceding evening. It was not possible 
to advance. It was in vain that orders were 
given to make way ; the crowd increased every 
moment. At length the marshal, despairing 
of being able to proceed in the streets, de- 
manded admission into some private houses, 
and conducted Luther through the gardens and 
back ways to the place where the diet was 
assembled. 

Arrived at the Town Hall, the marshal 
found it impossible to pass the gateway, so 
thronged was it by the multitude. "Make 
room !" was the cry; but no one stirred, until 
the imperial soldiers pressed forward and 
cleared a passage with their halberds. And 
when the door was entered, the crowd was as 
suffocating as before. In the antechambers 
and window-recesses there were not less than 
five thousand spectators, German, Italian, 
Spanish, and of other nations. 

But the intervening difficulties were at 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 275 

length overcome, and Luther was ushered into 
the presence of his judges. Never had any 
man appeared before a more august assembly. 
The Emperor Charles, vi^hose dominions ex- 
tended across both hemispheres ; his brother, 
the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria ; six 
electors of the empire ; twenty-four dukes ; 
eight margraves ; thirty archbishops, bishops 
and prelates : seven ambassadors, including 
those of France and England ; the deputies 
of ten free cities ; several princes, counts 
and barons of rank; the pope's legates; in 
all two hundred persons. Such was the im- 
posing assemblage before which stood Martin 
Luther. 

His very appearance there was itself a vic- 
tory over the papacy. The man whom the 
pope has adjudged a heretic, and by two sepa- 
rate bulls has excommunicated, stands before 
a tribunal, raised by that very fact above the 
pope's authority. Placed under an interdict, 
and struck. out from human fellowship by the 
decrees of Rome, he is received before the 
noblest of human auditories. When the pope 
has declared that his lips shall be sealed for- 
ever, he is about to open them in the presence 



276 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

of thousands, assembled from the remotest 
countries of Christendom. 

When Luther had advanced to the foot of 
the imperial throne, where he was directed to 
stand until some questions should be put to 
him, the chancellor of the Archbishop of 
Treves addressed him as follows, speaking 
first in Latin and then in German : " Martin 
Luther, his sacred and invincible majesty has 
cited you before his throne, acting on the opi- 
nion and advice of the states of the holy Roman 
empire, to require you to answer to these 
questions : First, Do you acknowledge these 
writings to have been composed by you ?" — 
pointing, at the same time, with his finger to 
about twenty volumes, placed on a table in the 
centre of the hall. *' Secondly, Are you pre- 
pared to retract these works, and the proposi- 
tions contained therein ; or do you persist in 
what you have advanced ?" 

Luther was about to answer the first of these 
questions in the affirmative, when Jerome 
Schurff*, who acted as his counsellor, inter- 
rupted him and said, **Let the titles of the 
books first be read." The dexterous lawyer 
took this method of bringing into notice the 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 277 

religious and unexceptionable subjects of many 
of these works. For as the chancellor read 
over the titles, there appeared among them 
commentaries on the Psalms ; a little tract on 
good works ; a commentary on the Lord's 
prayer ; and other books on topics in no way 
related to the controversy. When the reading 
was finished, Luther replied, first in Latin and 
then in German : 

" Most gracious emperor, princes and lords ; 
his imperial majesty puts to me two questions. 
As to the first, I acknowledge the books, the 
titles of which have been read (unless they 
shall have been mutilated and altered) to be of 
my writing. I cannot deny them. As to the 
second, seeing that it is a question which has 
reference to faith and the salvation of souls, I 
should act rashly, if I were to answer without 
reflection. I might say less than the circum- 
stance demands, or more than truth requires ; 
and so sin against Christ. Therefore, I most 
humbly desire his imperial majesty to allow 
me time, that I may answer without offending 
against the word of God." 

This reasonable request, after some delibera- 
tion, was granted. Luther was allowed to 
24 



278 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

defer his answer till the next day, on the ex- 
press condition, however, that he should de- 
liver what he had to say by word of mouth, 
and not in writing. 

The enemies of Luther were much encou- 
raged by his request for delay. " He had beg- 
ged for time," said they. " He is going to 
retract. At a distance, his speech was arro- 
gant ; but now his courage forsakes him. He 
is fairly conquered." 

Some of his friends advised him to retract 
his errors in point of doctrine, but to adhere to 
all that he had said concerning the pontiff and 
the court of Rome. But he was determined 
to make no recantation. " By the help of 
Jesus Christ," said he, after having returned to 
his hotel, "I will not retract a single letter of 
my writings." 

The interval between his first and second 
appearance before the diet, Luther employed 
in preparing his final answer, and in preparing 
his soul for the great issue. As the moment 
approached when he was to go again into the 
presence of his judges, he drew near to the 
table, on which lay an open Bible, and placing 
his left hand upon it, he raised the other 
towards heaven ; and here he vowed to adhere 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 279 

to the gospel constantly, and confess his faith 
freely, though he should be called to seal his 
confession with his blood This done, his 
countenance shone, and his heart was dilated 
with holy joy. 

At the time appointed, Luther was conduct- 
ed again to the hall where the diet was assem- 
bled. He was obliged to wait two hours in 
the court, surrounded by a dense crowd, be- 
fore he could gain admittance. To an ordinary 
man, this must have been not only a severe 
trial, but a grievous hindrance to preparedness 
of mind. But in the midst of the crowd, Lu- 
ther was walking alone with God. His look 
was serene and his features unruffled. The 
Eternal was placing him on the rock. 

At length, however, he was admitted; and 
the chancellor of the Archbishop of Treves 
demanded of him whether he wished to retract 
any part of his writings, or whether he was 
determined to defend them. Whereupon Lu- 
ther, in a tone of humility and mildness, but 
yet with inflexible Christian firmness, made 
the following answer : 

" Most serene emperor, and you, illustrious 
princes and gracious lords ; I this day appear 
before you, in all humility, according to your 



280 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

command, and I implore your majesty, and 
your august highnesses, by the mercies of God, 
to listen with favour to the defence of a cause 
which I am well assured is just and right. I 
ask pardon if, by reason of my ignorance, I 
am wanting in the manners that befit a court ; 
for I have not been brought up in kings' pa- 
laces, but in the seclusion of a cloister. 

"Two questions were put to me yesterday 
by his imperial majesty ; the first of which I 
answered, and to that answer I adhere. As to 
the second, I have composed writings on very 
different subjects. In some, I have discussed 
faith and good works, in a spirit so pure, clear, 
and Christian, that my adversaries themselves, 
far from finding anything to censure, confess 
that these writings are profitable, and deserve 
to be perused by devout persons. Even the 
pope's bull acknowledges as much as this. 
What then should I be doing, if I were now 
to retract these writings ? I alor.e, wretched 
man ! should be found abandoning truths ap- 
proved by the unanimous voice of friends and 
enemies, and opposing doctrines which the 
whole world glories in confessing. 

" I hcve, in the second place, composed cer- 
tain works against popery ; wherein I have 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 281 

attacked those who, by false doctrines, irregu- 
lar lives, and scandalous examples, afflict the 
Christian world, and ruin the bodies and souls 
of men. And is not this confirmed by the 
grief of all who fear God ? Is it not manifest 
that the laws and doctrines of the popes entangle, 
vex, and distress the consciences of the faith- 
ful ; whilst the crying and endless extortions 
of Rome ingulph the property and wealth of 
Christendom, and more particularly of this 
illustrious nation ? If I were to revoke what 
I have written against popery, should I not 
strengthen this tyranny, and open a wider door 
to so many and ilagrant impieties ? And then 
we should behold these proud men, bearing 
down all resistance — swelling, foaming and 
raging more than ever. And not only would 
the yoke which now weighs us down be made 
more grinding by my retractation, it would, 
so to speak, become legitimated ; since it 
would thereby receive confirmation from your 
most serene majesty and all the states of the 
empire. And I should become like an infa- 
mous cloak, used to hide and cover over every 
species of malice and tyranny. 

" In the third and last place, I have written 
24* 



282 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

some books against private individuals, who 
had undertaken to defend the tyranny of Rome, 
by destroying the faith. I freely confess that 
I may have attacked such persons v^^ith more 
violence than was consistent with my profes- 
sion as an ecclesiastic. I do not think of my- 
self as a saint. But neither can I retract these 
books ; because, by so doing, I should sanction 
the impieties of my opponents, who would 
thence take occasion to crush the people of 
God with still more cruelty. Yet, as I am a 
mere man, and not God, I will defend myself 
after the example of Christ, Vv^ho said. If I have 
spoken evil, b^cir witness against me. How 
much more should I, who am but dust and 
ashes, and so prone to error, desire that every 
one should bring forward what he can against 
my doctrine. Therefore, most serene emperor, 
and you, illustrious princes, and all who hear 
me, whether high or low; I implore you, by 
the mercies of God, to prove to me, by the 
writings of the prophets and apostles, that I 
am in error. As soon as I shall be convinced 
I will instantly retract all my errors, and will 
myself be the first to seize my writings, and 
commit them to the flames." 

Luther proceeded to warn his august audi- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 283 

tors lest, in their endeavours to arrest discords, 
they should be found to fight against the holy 
word of God, and thus bring down upon their 
heads a frightful deluge of present dangers and 
disasters, and everlasting desolations. " Let 
us beware," said he, " lest the reign of the 
young and noble prince, the Emperor Charles, 
on whom (next to God) we build so many 
hopes, should not only commence, but continue 
and terminate its course, under the most fatal 
auspices. I might cite many examples drawn 
from the word of God. I might tell of ancient 
monarchs of Egypt, of Babylon, and of Israel, 
who were never more directly contributing to 
their own ruin, than when, by measures appa- 
rently the most prudent, they thought to esta- 
blish their own authority. God removeth the 
mountains, and they know it not. Job ix. 5. 

" In speaking thus, I do not suppose that 
such noble princes have need of my poor judg- 
ment. But I wish to acquit myself of a duty 
that Germany has a right to expect from her 
children. And so commending myself to your 
august majesty, and your most serene high- 
nesses, I beseech you, in all humility, not to 
permit the hatred of my enemies to rain upon 
me an indignation which I have not deserved." 



284 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

When Luther had delivered his answer in 
German, he was requested to repeat the same 
in Latin. And after a moment's respite and 
recollection, he complied ; a circumstance 
which is said to have been highly gratifying 
to the Elector of Saxony. 

As soon as he was through, the Chancellor 
of Treves, who acted as speaker of the assem- 
bly, addressed him angrily, as follows : " You 
have not given any answer to the inquiry put 
to you. You are not to question the decisions 
of councils, but to return a clear and distinct 
answer, Will you, or will you not, retract ?" 

To this demand Luther promptly replied : 
" Since your most serene majesty, and your 
high mightinesses require of me a clear and 
direct answer, I will give one, and it is this : 
I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or 
the councils ; because it is as clear as noon- 
day, that they have often fallen into error, and 
even into glaring inconsistency with them- 
selves. If, then, I am not convinced from the 
Holy Scriptures, or from reason, and my judg- 
ment is not brought in this way into subjection 
to God's word, / neither can nor will retract 
any thing; for it cannot be right for a Christian 
to speak against his conscience." Then turn- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 285 

iiig a look Oil that assembly before which he 
stood, and which held in its hands his life or 
his death, he added, " Here I stand, and can 
say no more. God help me. Amen." 

At this conclusion, the assembly seemed 
motionless with astonishment. Several of the 
princes could scarcely conceal their admiration. 
Even the emperor spoke of the monk's '' in- 
trepid heart and unshaken courage." After a 
few moments, the chancellor resumed : "If 
you do not retract, the emperor and the princes 
will proceed to consider in what manner to 
deal with an obstinate heretic." To which 
Luther replied, ^' The Lord be my helper ! I 
can retract nothing." 

When he had said this, Luther withdrew 
from the diet, and left the princes to deliberate 
by themselves. After a little time, however, 
he was recalled, when the chancellor thus ad- 
dressed him: " Martin, you have not spoken 
with that humility which befits your condition. 
The distinctions you have made respecting 
your works are needless ; for if you retract 
such as contain errors, the emperor will not 
suffer the rest to be burned. It is absurd to 
require to be refuted by Scripture, when you 
are reviving heresies condemned by the general 



286 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

council of Constance. The emperor requires 
you to say, yes or no, whether you mean to 
affirm what you have advanced, or whether 
you desire to retract any thing." '*I have no 
answer to give," replied Luther, '* except that 
I have already given." The assembly under- 
stood him. Not only the energy of his words, 
but his countenance, his eye, and the inflexible 
firmness depicted on his rude German features, 
all proclaimed that there was no longer any 
hope of his submission. The assembly ad- 
journed at once, to meet next morning to hear 
the emperor's decision. 

The impression produced by the address 
and demeanour of Luther before the diet was 
deep and powerful. The Elector of Saxony 
was delighted with him, and was evidently 
proud of having such a veteran under his pa- 
tronage. He resolved from this time to afford 
him a more efficient protection. Other mem- 
bers of the diet were won over to his cause by 
the tone of deep conviction with which he had 
defended it, and became, at a later period, the 
decided patrons of the Keformation. 

The emperor, however, found it impossible 
to divest himself of his prejudices and of the 
various ensnaring influences with which he 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 287 

was surrounded. The day following, when 
the diet came together, he caused to be read 
the follov/ing declaration, which he had writ- 
ten with his own hand : " Descended from the 
Christian emperors of Germany, from the Ca- 
tholic kings of Spain, from the archdukes of 
Austria, and the dukes of Burgundy, all of 
whom have distinguished themselves as de- 
fenders of the faith of Rome, I am firmly re- 
solved to tread in the footsteps of my ancestors. 
A single monk, led astray by his own madness, 
erects himself against the faith of Christen- 
dom. I will sacrifice my kingdoms, my power, 
my friends, my treasure, my body and blood, 
my thoughts and my life, to stay the farther 
progress of this impiety. I am about to dis- 
miss Luther, forbidding him to make the least 
disturbance among the people. I will then 
take measures against him and his adherents, 
as open heretics, by excommunication, by in- 
terdict, and every means necessary to their 
destruction. I call on the members of the 
States to comport themselves as faithful Chris- 
tians." 

This indiscreet declaration on the part of the 
emperor, which was owing in some degree to 
his want of experience, but more to the solici- 



288 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

tations of Aleander and his friends, produced 
complaints and murmurs in the assembly. By 
giving his opinion first, the emperor had broken 
the established rules of the diet. He ought 
first to have consulted with the members, and 
made himself acquainted with their views. By 
this hasty procedure, the cause of Luther was 
prejudged, and the right of the princes to act 
freely in the matter before them was taken away. 
Party spirit ran high at this time. Acrimo- 
nious papers on both sides of the question 
were publicly affixed to the walls, and the 
most violent expressions are said to have been 
used. Those on one side of the question were 
disposed to regard Luther favourably, and to 
extend to him all the protection in their power ; 
while Aleander and his party were for killing 
him outright. The safe-conduct, they said, 
ought not to be respected. He ought to be 
burnt, like John Huss, and his ashes to be 
thrown into the Rhine. But this frightful, dis- 
graceful proposal found little favour among the 
Germans. Even Duke George exclaimed, 
*' The German princes will not endure the 
violation of a safe-conduct. Such perfidy be- 
fits not the ancient faith of the Germans." 
These discussions continued for two days, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 289 

during which no official information was sent 
to Luther respecting a matter in which he was 
so deeply interested ; and during which the 
most frightful reports were put in circulation, 
and various plans were adopted, both for his 
destruction and his defence. The matter was 
at length compromised in the diet, in this way : 
Charles consented that the heretic should be 
allowed a few days' delay, in which time such 
of the princes as pleased might endeavour to 
persuade him to recant his errors ; and if they 
succeeded, he promised that he himself would 
take care that he should be pardoned by the 
Roman pontiff. Accordingly, incredible pains 
•were taken, during the next two or three days, 
by princes, electors, and deputies of various 
orders, friends and foes, to shake the resolution 
of this hero of the Reformation. The Arch- 
bishop of Treves, a staunch Romanist, but a 
man of gentle manners and humane disposi- 
tion, was particularly earnest in these negotia- 
tions. It was probably far more difficult for 
Luther to resist the kind entreaties and expos- 
tulations with which he was now assailed, than 
to confront all the threats of power, and the 
terrors of a public hearing before the diet of 
25 



290 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

the empire. But neither exhortations nor pro- 
mises, flatteries nor frowns, availed to change 
his resolution, or move him from the answer he 
had so often given. He persisted in saying 
that, rather than give up the word of God, 
when the case was clear, he would lose his life. 
At one time, during these negotiations, the 
Dean of Frankfort, a violent papist, proposed 
a public discussion to Luther, provided he 
would forego his safe-conduct. This m.alicious 
proposition placed the reformer in a critical 
dilemma. Nothing could be more desirable to 
him than a public discussion ; but to give up 
his safe-conduct would probably be to throw 
away his life — which his enemies of all things 
most wished him to do. On the other hand, 
to decline the challenge of the dean w^ould be 
to bring his cause into doubt and disgrace. A 
friendly knight, who was sitting by when the 
proposal was made, understanding at once its 
nature and design, and roused to indignation 
at the thought of such a stratagem, extricated 
Luther from his embarrassment in a summary 
way. Seizing the terrified dean by the throat, 
he turned him out of doors, and might have 
shed his blood, had he not been prevented by 
the interposition of others. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 291 

When all other plans of compromise had 
failed, Luther was urged by his friends to ap- 
peal to a general council. He consented ; but 
it was on the express condition that the council 
should decide according to the Scriptures — a 
condition to which he well knew the papists 
would not accede. 

The Archbishop of Treves, having exhaust- 
ed all his wisdom in endeavouring to heal the 
difficulty, at length appealed to Luther and 
said, " What remedy would you propose for 
the evil?" After a moment's pause, the re- 
former replied, '' I know of no remedy but 
v/hat is found in that word of Gamaliel, ' If this 
work be of men, it will come to nought. But 
if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest 
haply ye be found even to fight against God.' 
I feel perfectly sure, that this agitation and 
controversy will of itself die away in less than 
two years, unless God be actually on my side." 

In about three hours after this conversation, 
Luther received a message from the emperor as 
follows : "• Martin Luther, his Imperial Majes- 
ty, the Electors, Princes and States of the em- 
pire, having repeatedly and in various ways, 
but without success, exhorted you to submis- 
sion, the emperor, in his character of de- 



292 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

fender of the Catholic faith, finds himself com- 
pelled to resort to other measures. He there- 
fore orders you to return to the place whence 
you came, pledging the public faith for your 
safety during the space of twenty-one days. 
And he prohibits you from disturbing the pub- 
lic peace on your journey, either by preaching 
or writing." 

Luther was well aware that this message 
was the precursor of his condemnation. ''It 
has happened unto me," he replied, " accord- 
ing to the will of the eternal God ; and blessed 
be his name." By the same individuals who 
brought to him the above message from the 
emperor, he returned the following answer : 
"I humbly, and from the bottom of my heart, 
thank his Majesty, the Electors, Princes and 
States of the empire, that they have given me 
so gracious a hearing. I have not, and never 
have had, a wish but for one thing, viz. a re- 
formation of the church according to the Holy 
Scriptures. I am ready to do or to suffer all 
things in obedience to the emperor's will. Life 
or death, honour or dishonour, I will bear. I 
make but one reservation — the preaching of the 
gospel. The word of God must not be bound." 

On Friday morning, April 26th, Luther gave 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 293 

his blessing to those around him, and left 
Worms. Twenty gentlemen on horseback 
surrounded his carriage. A crowd accompa- 
nied him outside the city. As he passed those 
walls, which many had predicted would be- 
come his tomb, his heart overflowed with gra- 
titude and praise to God. ''The devil has 
been obliged to confess," he said, " that Christ 
is mightier than he." 

Luther's appearance, his firmness, his de- 
fence at Worms, and his escape from the mor- 
tal enemies who there surrounded him, have 
justly been considered as the noblest of his 
victories ; or rather, as the greatest triumph of 
that divine word for which he contended, and 
by which he was delivered. "Armed witli 
the word of God alone, he had encountered, 
first, Tetzel and his numerous host, and after a 
brief resistance, those greedy traffickers had 
been driven from the field ;-— then, the Roman 
legate at Augsburg, and the legate, in confu- 
sion, had been compelled to relinquish his 
prey ; — then again, Eck and his learned divines 
in the halls of Leipsic, and the astonished 
theologians had seen the weapons of their 
scholastic logic shivered in their hands ; — and 
25* 



294 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

when the pope himself had started from his 
slumbers to launch his fiercest lightnings at the 
head of the unoffending monk, that same word 
had again been the safeguard of him who 
trusted in it, and the arm of the spiritual des- 
pot had been stricken with palsy. One strug- 
gle more remained to be endured. The divine 
word was destined to triumph over the em- 
peror of the West — over the kings and princes 
of so many lands ; and this was the splendid 
triumph achieved at Worms. 

" The conflict at Worms resounded far and 
near ; and as the report of it traversed Europe, 
from the northern countries to the mountains 
of Switzerland, and through the towns of 
England, France and Italy, many seized, with 
new eagerness and confidence, the mighty 
weapons of the word of God." 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 295 



CHAPTER X. 

Luther pursues his journey towards Wittemberg— 
Writes to the emperor— Visits his relatives at Mora 
— Is captured and confined in the castle of Wart- 
burg — His condemnation at Worms— The edict dis- 
regarded in Germany — Reasons for this — Great ex- 
citement on account of Luther's supposed imprison- 
ment or death — Luther's despondency in the castle — ■ 
Is allowed more liberty — His studies and labours — • 
His publications — He humbles the Archbishop of 
Mentz — He commences translating the Scriptures — 
His conflicts with the adversary — His writings cen- 
sured by the University of Paris — Melancthon replies 
to the Doctors of the Sorbonne — Outward progress 
of the Reformation — Priests begin to enter the mar- 
riage state — The mass gives place to the Lord's sup- 
per — The monks quit their cloisters and return to 
society — The fanatical prophets — Melancthon and 
Luther declare against them — Carlstadt is taken with 
them — Luther's presence needed at Wittemberg — He 
leaves his castle, and returns. 

At the close of the last chapter, we left Lu- 
ther commencing his return from Worms to 
Wittemberg. Arrived at Frankfort, he found 
time to write the following brief but strongly 
characteristic letter, in reference to what had 
been done at Worms. " I expected his ma- 



296 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

jesty would assemble fifty learned doctors, to 
convict the monk outright. Bat not at all. 
* Are these books of your writing ? Yes. 
Will you retract them ? No. Well, begone !' 
There is the whole history. Deluded Ger- 
mans ! How childishly we act ! How are 
we duped and defrauded by Rome ! Let the 
Jews sing their lo ! lo I lo !* But a passover 
is cominof for us also, and then we will sinof 
Hallelujah! We must keep silence and en- 
dure for a short time. ' A litde while and ye 
shall not see me, and again a little while and 
ye shall see me,' said Jesus Christ. I trust I 
may say the same.t Farewell. I commend 
you all to the Eternal. May he preserve your 
understanding and faith from the attacks of the 
wolves and the dragons of Kome." 

Still pursuing his journey, Luther found 
time, the morning after having written the 
above letter, to address messages to the em- 
peror, and also to the princes, whom he had 
left at Worms. In these papers, he explains 

* The supposed shouts of the Jews at the crucifixion 
of Christ. 

f We have strong incidental proof that the plan of 
Luther's subsequent confinement had now been disclosed 
to him. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 297 

clearly the obedience which the Christian 
owes to his sovereign, and that which is due 
to God; and marks the point at which the 
former must give place to the latter. " God is 
my witness," said he, ''that I am ready with 
all my heart to obey your majesty, through 
good or evil report, in life or in death, except- 
ing only the word of God. In all the affairs 
of this life my fidelity shall be unshaken ; for 
in these, loss or gain has nothing to do with 
salvation. But that man should be subject to 
man in what pertains to eternal life, is con- 
trary to the will of God. Subjection in spi- 
rituals is a real worship, which should be 
rendered only to the Creator." 

At Hirschfeld, Luther was received with 
distinguished honour by the Prince Abbot of 
the city, and was invited to preach. The 
prince and his suite attended the sermon. The 
next day, he arrived at Eisenach, the scene of 
his childhood, where he also preached, though 
not without some opposition from the curate. 
At Eisenach he parted from most of his attend- 
ants, who took the direct road to Wittemberg, 
while he, accompanied only by Amsdorff, 
turned aside to the village of Mora, that he 
might visit an aged grandmother and uncle. 



298 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

He spent the following day with his relatives, 
in a degree of quietness which was the more 
grateful, on account of the turmoils through 
which he had passed. The next morning Lu- 
ther resumed his journey, in company with 
AmsdorfF, and his own brother James. They 
skirted the woods of Thuringen, taking the road 
that leads to Waltershausen. As they were 
passing a narrow defile, near the church of 
Glisbach, suddenly a noise was heard, and in 
a moment five horsemen, masked and armed 
from head to foot, fell upon them. His brother 
James, who seems not to have possessed the 
courage of Martin, leaped from the wagon in 
a great fright, and fled. Two of the assailants 
seized the driver and AmsdorfF, and held them 
fast ; while the other three took Luther from 
the wagon, threw a knight's cloak over him, 
and put him upon a horse which they had 
with them. This done, the whole five sprang 
into their saddles, leaving Amsdorff and the 
wagoner to shift for themselves, and in a mo- 
ment they and their prisoner disappeared in the 
thick gloom of the forest. The news spread 
with the rapidity of lightning through all the 
towns and villages of the country, that Luther 
had been carried off. Some rejoiced at the re- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION, 299 

port, but the greater number were struck with 
astonishment and indignation ; and soon a cry 
of grief resounded throughout Germany, " Lu- 
ther has fallen into the hands of his enemies." 

The party which had captured Luther con- 
tinued in the forest during the day, pursuing a 
zig-zag course to avoid pursuit; but as soon 
as the shades of evening closed in, they took 
him directly to the ancient fortress or casde 
of Wartburg. This was a lofty isolated pile, 
situated on the summit of a hill, surrounded 
on all sides, except one, with the black forests 
of Thuringen. Here he was stripped of his 
ecclesiastical habit, and dressed throughout in 
the garb of a knight. He was commanded not 
to cut his beard or his hair, and the attendants 
of the castle were to know him only by the 
name of Knight George. 

There is good reason to believe that this 
sudden capture and confinement of Luther was 
not a matter of surprise to himself. His great 
patron, the Elector of Saxony, knew not how 
to protect hiui in any other way ; and the plan 
of a temporary concealment was confidentially 
disclosed to Luther a short time before his de- 
parture from Worms. Yet so artfully was the 
plan accomplished, and so deeply was the 



300 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

whole transaction involved in mystery, that 
even Frederic himself was for a long time igno- 
rant of the place where Luther was concealed. 

But we must return, for a moment, to the 
diet at Worms. Shortly after the departure of 
Luther, the Elector of Saxony, the Elector Pa- 
latine, the elector Archbishop of Cologne, and 
most of the German princes, who were favour- 
able to the Reformation, left the place. The 
Italians and Spaniards, with the strongly Ca- 
tholic princes, alone remained. Aleander was 
master of the field. He drew up an edict of 
condemnation against Luther, which the em- 
peror approved, and which was adopted by 
such of the diet as remained, on the 25th of 
May. Yet, that it might seem to have been 
passed earlier, when the diet was full, it was 
ante-dated the 8th of May. After a brief in- 
troduction, the edict proceeds as follows : 

*' The Augustine monk, Martin Luther, has 
madly attacked the holy church, and attempted 
to desti'oy it by writings full of blasphemy. 
He has shamefully vilified the unalterable law 
of holy marriage ; has laboured to incite the 
laity to imbrue their hands in the blood of their 
priests ; and defying all authority, has inces- 
santly excited the people to revolt, schism, 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 301 

war, murder, theft, incendiarism, and the utter 
destruction of the Christian faith. In a word, 
this being, who is no man, but Satan himself 
under the semblance of a man, has collected, 
in one offensive mass, all the worst heresies of 
former ages, adding his own to the number." 

Having thus enumerated the offences of Lu- 
ther, in which enumeration there is scarcely a 
syllable or semblance of truth, the emperor 
proceeds to forbid all persons to harbour him, 
to give him meat or drink, or in any way to 
aid or abet him. " We enjoin," says he, 
'' that you seize him, or cause him to be 
seized, wherever he may be, and bring him 
before us without delay, or hold him in durance 
until you shall be informed how to deal with 
him, and have received the reward due to your 
co-operation in this holy work." His adhe- 
rents were also to be seized, and their property 
confiscated. His writings were to be burned 
and destroyed. '* And if any one shall dare 
to act contrary to this decree of our imperial 
majesty, we command that he be placed under 
the ban of the empire." 

Such was the celebrated edict of Worms, 
which the diet had ratified, and the emperor 
26 



302 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

had signed. The whole party of the Roman- 
ists shouted for joy. They exclaimed aloud, 
" The tragedy is over." 

There were multitudes, however, in all 
parts of Germany, who thought differently. 
" This is not the last act of the tragedy," they 
said, *• but the beginning." The Reformation, 
they saw, was deeply seated, not in one mind, 
but in many—in the very elements of the pass- 
ing age ; so that whatever might become of Lu- 
ther, his cause was sure not to perish with him. 

Notwithstanding the great pains which were 
taken to circulate the terrible edict of Worms, 
its abettors soon found that it was producing 
almost no effect. In France and the Low 
Countries a pile was sometimes kindled for the 
purpose of burning Luther's books ; but in 
Germany they were read with increased avi- 
dity, and the cause which they advocated moved 
onward as smoothly as ever. The partisans 
of Rome complained that " before the ink of 
the signature had had time to dry, the imperial 
decree was virtually torn in pieces." 

Several causes combined to break the force 
of this decree, and render it comparatively of 
no effect. One was the death of Pope Leo X., 
which occurred only a few months after the 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 303 

dissolution of the diet. Another was the politi- 
cal convulsions of the empire, which engrossed 
the whole attention of Charles, and rendered 
it impossible for him (if he had been so dis- 
posed) to execute his edict against Luther and 
the Reformation. Troubles almost immediately 
broke out in Spain, which compelled him to 
re-cross the Pyrenees. He was also involved 
in a war with his great rival, the King of France. 
And as though this were not enough, the Turks 
invaded Hungary. Thus attacked on all sides, 
Charles found himself compelled to leave the 
condemned monk and his religious novelties 
unmolested. But the chief cause which, more 
than all others, contributed to render powerless 
the decree at Worms, was the particular state 
of the public mind. This had been thoroughly 
impregnated with the doctrines of Luther, and 
he was regarded by his countrymen generally, 
not only as the great reformer of religion, but 
as the intrepid champion of their rights and 
liberties. In this state of things, to have exe- 
cuted rigidly upon him and his adherents the 
decree of the diet, had been well nigh an im- 
possibility. If done at all, it could have been 
done only at the point of the sword, and with 
the certainty of desolating Germany. 



304 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Of this the Romanists had reason to be sa- 
tisfied, from the excitement occasioned by the 
abduction of Luther, and his supposed imprison- 
ment or death. All Germany was moved in 
view of what had been done. Rumors the 
most contradictory and painful were every- 
where circulated. Men's minds were an hun- 
dred fold more agitated by the absence of the 
reformer, than they could have been by his 
presence. Not only knights and w^arriors, but 
men of peace, aged people, yea even women 
and children, were in a state of fearful excite- 
ment, and were resolved to avenge the reform- 
er's death. The alarm of the Romish party 
was now as excessive as their joy had been on 
first hearing that Luther was taken out of the 
way. In many places they trembled with fear, 
and sought to hide themselves from the threat- 
ening anger of the populace. ''The only way 
of extricating ourselves," wrote one of the Ca- 
tholics to the Archbishop of Mentz, " is to light 
our torches, and go searching through the 
earth for Luther, until we can restore him to 
the nation that will have him." 

On finding himself shut up in the castle of 
Wartburg, Luther passed several days in quiet 
repose, enjoying a leisure which had not for a 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 305 

long time been allowed him. He was at large 
within the fortress, but was not permitted to 
pass outside of it. All his wishes were com- 
plied with, and he had never been better treated. 
" Pray for me," he wrote to Spalatin. " I want 
nothing but your prayers. Don't disturb me 
with what is said or thought of me in the 
world. At last, I am quiet." Luther styled 
his castle ''the isle of Patmos," and dated all 
his letters from thence accordingly. 

But his tranquillity was not of long duration. 
Seated alone, day after day, within the walls 
of the Wartburg, he had seasons, as might 
have been expected, of extreme despondency. 
He was ready to exclaim, at times, ''Lord, 
hast thou made all men in vain!" He often 
longed to be again on the field of battle, con- 
flicting with the enemies both of himself and 
the gospel. " Rather," said he, " w^ould I be 
stretched on burning coals, than stagnate here 
half dead." His health, also, which was fee- 
ble when he entered the castle, began soon to 
suffer from confinement and a change of diet. 
His table was too richly stored, and he found 
it indispensable to return to the poorer fare to 
which he had been accustomed. He often 
26^ 



306 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

passed whole nights without sleep, suffering 
much in body, but more in mind ; often moan- 
ing and crying aloud, like a heart-broken child. 
And then he would turn his sufferings, which 
he believed were inflicted for his good, into 
matter of solemn thanksgiving and praise. " I 
thank thee, O Christ, that thou dost not leave me 
without the precious relics of thy holy cross." 

For the sake of his health, Luther was al- 
lowed, occasionally, a degree of liberty. The 
sides of the mountain on which the castle was 
built were covered, in many places, with wild 
strawberries, and he was permitted to walk out 
and gather them. Gradually he became still 
more venturesome, and clothed in his knight's 
armour, and attended by a faithful guard, he 
extended his excursions in the neighbourhood. 
In several instances, he joined the inmates ot 
the castle in the sports of the chase ; and in 
view of the eagerness with which they pur- 
sued their game, could not but think of the 
manner in which '* the messengers of Antichrist 
hunt down and destroy deluded souls." On 
one occasion, he journeyed even to Wittem- 
berg, and returned, without being discovered. 

During his sojourn in the casde, Luther 
often reproached himself with indolence, but it 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 307 

should seem without any sufficient reason. 
Soon after his entrance there, he writes as fol- 
lows : "I am going through the Bible in He- 
brew and Greek. I mean to write a discourse 
in German touching auricular confession ; also 
to continue the translation of the Psalms, and 
to compose a collection of sermons. My pen 
is never idle." His enemies thought that, if 
not dead, he was at least silenced ; but he soon 
convinced them that he was still able to make his 
voice to be heard. For nearly a whole year, he 
continued to thunder from his mountain height 
— tract following tract in such rapid succession, 
that his astonished adversaries began to inquire 
whether there was not something supernatural 
in so prodigious an activity. 

His promised discourse on auricular confes- 
sion first appeared. " In support of this prac- 
tice," says he, "the papists allege that passage 
in James, Confess your sins one to another. 
A strange confessor this, whose name is one 
another. It would follow that the confessors 
ought also to confess to their penitents, that 
every Christian, in his turn, should be pope, 
bishop and priest ; and that the pope himself 
should make confession before all." 

Luther next published his masterly reply to 



308 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

Latomos, one of the divines of Louvain ; in 
which he thus defends himself against the 
charge of lacking moderation. " The modera- 
tion of this age," says he, ''consists in bend- 
ing the knee before sacrilegious pontiffs, and 
impious sophists, and saying, ' Gracious lord,' 
and ' Most worthy master.' Having done this, 
you may persecute whom you will to death — 
you may convulse the world ; this shall not 
hinder your being a man of moderation ! Away 
with such moderation, say I. Let me speak out, 
and delude no one. The shell may be rough, 
perhaps, but the kernel is soft and tender." 

In the autumn of this year Luther published 
a tract against monastic vows, which he dedi- 
cated to his aged father. In the course of the 
dedication he asks his father, "Do you still 
feel a desire to extricate me from a monk's 
life ? You have a right to do so, for you are my 
father and I am still your son. But the effort 
is no longer needed. God has been beforehand 
with you in this matter. He has himself deli- 
vered me with his mighty arm. I am no 
longer a monk ; I am a new creature — not of 
the pope, but of Jesus Christ." 

While Luther was concealed, the Archbishop 
of Mentz commenced, at Halle, the sale of in- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 309 

dulgences. Nothing could have roused the 
reformer to a higher pitch of indignation. 
** What !" said he, " when I have braved every 
danger, and the truth has triumphed, do they 
dare to trample it again in the dust ? They 
shall soon ?iear that voice which once arrested 
their guilty traffic. I will take no rest, till I 
have attacked the idol of Mentz, and its abo- 
minations at Halle." Accordingly, he went 
to work with all speed, preparing his tract, 
"Against the new Idol of Halle." 

When this was completed, and had been 
sent to Wittemberg, his friends there were 
alarmed at it. Its boldness and energy con- 
founded them. They begged him to delay the 
publication, at least till he might write to the 
Archbishop of Mentz, and warn him of the 
thunderbolt that had been prepared for him. 
To this Luther consented, and wrote such a 
letter to the archbishop, who was also an 
elector and a cardinal, as no prince or ecclesi- 
astical dignitary had ever before received. 
''Your highness," said he, ''has seen fit to 
set up again the idol that ingulfs the treasure 
and the souls of poor Christians. You think, 
perhaps, that I am disabled, and that the power 
of the emperor will easily silence the protest 



310 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

of a feeble monk. But know this — ^I shall 
fearlessly discharge the duty that Christian 
charity lays me under, not dreading the gates 
of hell — much less popes, bishops, or cardinals. 
I humbly implore your electoral highness to 
call to mind the origin of this business, and 
how, from one little spark, there came such a 
fearful conflagration. The world then reposed 
in fancied security. ' That poor mendicant,' 
thought they, ' who, unaided, would attack the 
pope, has undertaken a task above his strength.' 
But God interposed his arm, and gave the pope 
more disturbance than he had ever known, 
since first he sat in the temple of God, and 
lorded it over God's church. That same God 
still lives. Let no one doubt it. And he will 
know how to bring to nought the efforts of a 
Cardinal of Mentz, although he were backed 
by four emperors: For it is his pleasure to 
bring down the lofty cedars, and humble the 
pride of the Pharaohs. I do, therefore, ap- 
prize your highness, that if the idol is not re- 
moved, it will be my duty, in obedience to 
God's teaching, publicly to rebuke your high- 
ness, as I have done the pope himself. Let 
not your highness neglect this notice. I shall 
wait fourteen days for an early and favourable 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 311 

answer. Given in my wilderness retreat, on 
Sunday after St. Catherine's day, 1521. Your 
highness's devoted and humble Martin Luther." 

Such was the letter written by a solitary, 
incarcerated monk to a prince of the empire, 
and to one of the highest dignitaries in the 
Romish church. And what answer might he 
expect to receive ? We know not all the work- 
ings of the archbishop's mind on this trying, 
momentous occasion ; nor all the influences 
which wrought upon him. But we know what 
answer he did return. The fourteen days had 
scarcely expired, when he literally humbled 
himself at the feet of Luther, and consented so 
to lick the dust that the threatened tract was 
never published. The whole world, perhaps, 
does not furnish an instance of a more splen- 
did triumph of Christian boldness and faithful- 
ness, over truckling cupidity and spiritual 
wickedness in high places. 

But Luther was destined to perform a more 
important work for his nation than any he had 
yet accomplished; and the foundations of this 
work were laid, and a considerable part of it 
completed, during his confinement in the 
Wartburg. It was to give to the Germans the 
Scriptures in their own mother tongue, Luther 



312 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

had translated some fragments of the sacred 
word before ; for example, the seven peniten- 
tial psalms. These portions had been exten- 
sively circulated, and had awakened a general 
desire for more. This earnest desire on the 
part of the people, the reformer regarded as a 
call from God ; and he was resolved to meet 
it. He was now a captive, enclosed and se- 
cluded within lofty walls ; and how could he 
better devote his leisure, than by rendering the 
word of God into the language of his nation ? 
He commenced with the New Testament ; 
and at the time of his enlargement, this was 
nearly ready for the press. 

While engaged in this important work, the 
feelings of Luther seem to have been various. 
In general, he possessed strong consolation ; 
finding in those pure pages to which his 
thoughts were directed that support and com- 
fort which his soul required. But at times, he 
was terribly bufFetted by the adversary, who 
feared as well as hated the work in which he 
was engaged, and was determined to drive him 
from it, if possible. It was while he was em- 
ployed in his translation of the New Testa- 
ment, that Luther was assailed by seeing ap- 
paritions of the wicked one. In imagination. 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 313 

** he saw him, rearing before him his gigantic 
form — ^lifting his finger, as if in threatening — 
grinning triumphantly, and grinding his teeth 
in fearful rage. One day, in particular, while 
Luther was translating, he thought that he saw 
Satan, in detestation of his work, tormenting 
and vexing him, and moving round him like 
a lion, ready to spring upon his prey. Aroused 
and alarmed, Luther snatched his inkstand, and 
threw it at the head of his enemy. The appa- 
rition vanished, and the ink-bottle was dashed 
to pieces against the wall. To this day, the 
keeper of the Wartburg regularly points out to 
travellers the mark made by Luther's ink- 
stand." 

It was while Luther was a captive, that the 
Sorbonne at Paris took ground against him. 
Influenced by the Dominicans, this celebrated 
school had extracted various propositions from 
his works, which they pronounced heretical. 
Among the condemned propositions were the 
following : *' God ever pardons sin freely, and 
requires nothing from us in return, save that 
for the time to come we live according to 
righteousness." <' The burning of heretics is 
contrary to the will of the Holy Ghost." 
27 



314 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

To these censures, Melancthon returned a 
spirited reply, in which he not merely stood 
on the defensive, but carried the war in the 
enemy's camp. The doctors of the Sorbonne 
had denounced Luther as a Manichean and a 
Montanist, and had called for fire and fagot to 
repress his madness. But Melancthon proved 
that his accusers were much more nearly allied 
to Manicheans and Montanists, and that the 
heresy was at Paris and Rome and not at 
Wittemberg. 

During the captivity of Luther, the Refor- 
mation made a very perceptible progress, more 
especially in its outward developements. Up 
to this time, the constitution of the church, its 
ritual and discipline had undergone no material 
alteration. Even in Saxony and at Wittem- 
berg, where the gospel had taken the deepest 
root, the papal ceremonies were continued as 
usual. The priest denounced the mass in his 
pulpit, but celebrated it at the altar. Friars 
and nuns continued to take upon themselves 
the prescribed vows, and enter the convents. 
Pastors lived single ; religious brotherhoods 
herded together ; pilgrimages were undertaken ; 
the faithful suspended their votive offerings on 
the pillars of the chapels ; and all the accus- 






MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 315 

tomed ceremonies were celebrated as before. 
It is evidence of the wisdom of Luther, and of 
his moderation, that the Reformation was com- 
menced after this manner. He prepared the 
way for outward changes, before he urged 
them. Instead of pressing these changes pre- 
maturely and indiscreetly, and thereby creating 
revolution and confusion, he left them to come 
along as the natural and necessary results of 
the principles he had inculcated. 

But the time had now arrived — the sooner, 
possibly, because of Luther's absence — when 
these results began to be manifested. Two 
of the German pastors, advocates of the reform- 
ed doctrines, entered into the marriage state. 
This step met with Luther's entire approbation. 
He was satisfied that priests ought to marry. 
But he was adverse, for a time, to extending 
the same liberty to monks and nuns. " The 
friars," he said, " had bound themselves by a 
deliberate vow. Of their own accord they had 
chosen a life of celibacy. Hence, they were 
not at liberty to withdraw from the obligations 
which they had voluntarily assumed." This 
reasoning is a sufficient answer to those who 
assert that the grand object of Luther in the 
Reformation was that he might marry. Up to 



316 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

this time, and for months afterwards, he had 
no thoughts of marrying, and no thought that 
he should ever be at liberty to marry. Nor 
was his mind changed in respect to this sub- 
ject, until he was prepared to renounce the 
whole system of monkery, as opposed in its 
very nature to a free salvation, and to regard 
the enjoined vows as no other than bad pro- 
mises, which might better be broken than kept. 
It was in November, 1521, that his mind first 
came to this conclusion ; when he published 
his tract against monastic vows, to which we 
have already referred. 

Another change was effected, shortly after 
that, respecting the marriage of priests. It was 
the change of the popish mass for the Chris- 
tian sacrament of the Lord's supper. The 
agitation on this subject commenced in the 
Augustinian convent at Wittemberg ; and all 
the inmates, the prior excepted, were found to 
be opposed to the mass. The elector and his 
court were alarmed at the proposed innovation ; 
and a deputation from the university, among 
whom was Melancthon, repaired to the con- 
vent, for the purpose of reducing the monks 
to their former quiet state. The whole ques- 
tion was examined with much strictness and 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 317 

impartiality, and the professors were at length 
convinced that the monks had truth on their 
side. What now was to he done ? Should 
they temporize, and conceal their convictions, 
or shall they speak out ? Conscience pleaded 
on one side, and a doubtful expediency on the 
other ; but they came at last to a courageous 
and honest decision. The university reported 
to the elector against the mass, and exhorted 
him to " put an end to all corruptions ; lest^ in 
the day of judgment, Christ should apply to 
the Saxons the rebukes he once pronounced 
upon Capernaum." 

Nor was Melancthon satisfied with simply 
acceding to this report. He immediately put 
forth fifty-five propositions, calculated to settle 
the minds of inquirers on the subject. *-The 
mass," says he, ''is no sacrifice. There is 
but one sacrifice — but one satisfaction — Jesus 
Christ. Besides him there is none other. Let 
such bishops as do not withstand the profana- 
tions of the mass be anathema." 

Still, the elector was not satisfied; and out 

of deference to his feelings, the contemplated 

change was deferred for a little- season. But 

in face of the light that was then shining, the 

27* 



318 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

mass could not be long retained. On Christ- 
mas day, Carlstadt administered the Lord's 
supper, in both kinds, in the parochial church 
of Wittemberg. He did the same on New- 
year's day, and on the Sunday following ; and 
from that time the ordinance was regularly ob- 
served. 

Before the change here contemplated was 
fully accomplished, another was in agitation. 
The same Augustinian monks who first op- 
posed the mass, began to oppose the monastic 
discipline and vows. "No one," they said, 
'*who wears a cowl can be saved. Whoso 
enters a cloister enters into the service of the 
devil. Vows of chastity, poverty, and obedi- 
ence to a superior, are contrary to the spirit of 
the gospel." Shortly after this, thirteen Au- 
gustine monks quitted the convent in one day, 
and throwing aside the habit of their order, as- 
sumed the dress of the laity. Such of them 
as had made some progress in learning con- 
tinued their course of study, in hope of being 
one day useful to the church ; while those who 
had made but little progress sought a livelihood 
by working with their own hands. 

This bold step, like the others which pre- 
ceded it, occasioned a general ferment in Wit- 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 319 

temberg. The people wondered and rejoiced 
to see the monks thus cheerfully coming for- 
ward to share the labours of their fellow- 
citizens ; whilst bitter reproaches were uttered 
against those who still obstinately clung to their 
indolent seclusion within the walls of the mo- 
nastery. Shortly after this, a chapter or gene- 
ral meeting of the Augustinian monks was held 
at Wittemberg, in which it was determined 
that, as monastic vows are not sinful, on the 
one hand, so neither, on the other hand, are 
they obligatory. "In Christ," said they, 
" there is neither layman nor monk. Each one 
is free to leave the monastery, or to abide in 
it. Let him who leaves it beware how he 
abuses his liberty ; let him who abides in it 
obey his superiors, but yet with the obedience 
of love," In this way, the question of vows 
was quietly settled, and the institution of mo- 
nasticism was virtually prostrated before the 
rising power of truth. 

But while these salutary changes, one after 
another, were taking place, and the reforma- 
tion of the visible church was making progress, 
impure elements, as might have been expected, 
began to work. There were men at that time, 
as there are at all times, who were not satisfied 



320 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

with salutary reforms, especially if they had 
not been leaders in them, and who were bent 
on distinguishing themselves by pushing mat- 
ters to dangerous extremes. Appearances of 
this nature first manifested themselves at 
Zwickau, a town of Saxony not far from Wit- 
temberg. Individuals professed to be commis- 
sioned from heaven to complete that reforma- 
tion which Luther had but feebly begun. 
*' What," said they, '< is the use of such close 
application to the Bible ? Nothing is heard of 
but the Bible. Can the Bible preach to us ? 
Can the Bible suffice for our instruction ? If 
God had intended to instruct us by a book, 
would he not give us one direct from heaven ? 
It is only the Spirit can enlighten. God him- 
self has spoken to us by his Spirit, and taught 
us what to do and say." 

Among the individuals who pretended to 
immediate revelation were Nicholas Storch, 
a weaver ; Mark Stubner, who was a senior 
student at Wittemberg ; and a noted fanatic 
whose name was Munzer. Of this new dis- 
pensation, it was revealed and agreed that 
Storch was to be the head. Accordingly, he 
chose him twelve apostles and seventy disci- 
ples, and gave out that apostles and prophets 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 321 

were agaia restored to the church. These 
men commenced their mission by denouncing 
woes and desolations upon the earth. " The 
day of the Lord draweth nigh ! The end of all 
things is at hand ! Within a few years, at 
farthest, the ungodly sinners shall rll be de- 
stroyed, and the supreme power shall be given 
to Storch, who shall instal the saints in the 
government of the world." 

From Zwickau they soon came to Wittem- 
berg, and opened their dread commission there. 
At first, the professors and ministers, and even 
the elector, were puzzled with them ; but soon 
Melancthon declared against them, and the 
elector " thought it most likely that the claims 
of the men of Zwickau were a temptation of 
the devil." 

When Luther, in his castle, heard of the 
proceedings of these men, he penetrated the 
deceit at once. Writing to the elector respect- 
ing them, he says, " Your highness, in years 
past, was much engaged in collecting relics. 
Now God has heard your prayer, and sent 
you, at no cost or trouble of your own, a whole 
cross, with nails, spears, scourges, and all. 
Let your highness, then, spread out your arms, 
and endure the piercing of the nails in your 



322 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

flesh. I always expected that Satan would 
send us this plague." Luther, however, inter- 
ceded for the fanatics, that they might not be 
persecuted. " Pray don't imprison them," 
wrote he to Spalatin. "Let not our beloved 
prince imbrue his hands in their blood." With 
all his vehemence, Luther was far before his 
age, and before many of the reformers with 
whom he acted, in the matter of religious 
toleration. 

Carlstadt, who, in the absence of Luther, 
held a conspicuous place among the professors 
at Wittemberg, was rather taken with the new 
teachers. He did not receive all their doc- 
trines, but deeply drank in the contagion of 
their enthusiasm. As the popish pictures and 
images had not yet been removed from the 
churches, he instigated the populace to carry 
them out by force ; and not only so, but to 
burn and destroy them. He also began to 
pour contempt upon human learning. He 
neglected his studies, and went into the fields 
and workshops, that he might there receive the 
true interpretation of Scripture. He advised 
the students in the university to return to their 
homes, and resume the spade, and follow the 
plough. What was the use of their continuing 



MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 323 

their studies, since Storch and Munzer had 
never been to the university, and yet they were 
prophets. Other teachers at Wittemberg fol- 
lowed the example of Carlstadt, and advised the 
people to take their children from the schools. 
In consequence of these proceedings, some of 
the schools were literally broken up ; the uni- 
versity was likely to be deserted ; and the light 
of the Reformation might ere long go out in 
utter darkness. 

Under these circumstances, the return of 
Luther to his former post of conflict and dan- 
ger was loudly and all but universally demand- 
ed. The burghers and citizens were clamorous 
for his re-appearance. The divines felt their 
need of the benefit of his judgment. Even 
the prophets appealed to him as their patron, 
from whom they expected support and coun- 
tenance. All, with the exception of the elector, 
and possibly of Carlstadt, united in the entreaty 
that he might return. The elector insisted that 
he should keep within the Wartburg, and pre- 
pare a justification to be presented at the ap- 
proaching diet. 

But when Luther was apprized of the criti- 
cal state of affairs at Wittemberg, he resolved 
that he would remain concealed no longer. At 



324 MORNING OF THE REFORMATION. 

all hazards, he would be at his post, and if he 
fell before his enemies, he would fall there. 
Accordingly, on the third of March he bade a 
final farewell to the castle of Wartburg, and to 
the gloomy forests by which it was surrounded. 
In the name of the Lord, he came forth from 
his hiding-place, and bent his steps again to- 
wards the haunts of men. He was still ha- 
bited as a knight, and in nearly all places 
through which he passed was entirely un- 
known. In two or three instances, he was 
recognised, but those that knew him were his 
friends. After a journey of five days he ar- 
rived in safety at Wittemberg, where he was 
received with a sort of triumph. Doctors, 
students, burghers, peasants, all broke forth in 
rejoicings together: for they had now among 
them a pilot who, they believed, could extri- 
cate the vessel from the reefs and perils with 
which it was encompassed. 



THE END. 



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Treatment Date: April 2005 

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A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

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